WikiLeaks: NSA Recording All Telephone Calls In Afghanistan

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

WikiLeaks: NSA Recording All Telephone Calls In Afghanistan

Posted by Soulskill on Friday May 23, 2014 @12:45AM from the stirring-the-pot dept.

On Monday, The Intercept reported that the NSA is recording the content of every cell phone call in the Bahamas. At the time of publication, The Intercept said there was another country in which the NSA was doing this, but declined to name it because of "specific, credible concerns that doing so could lead to increased violence." Now, reader Advocatus Diaboli points out that WikiLeaks has spilled the beans: the country being fully monitored by the NSA is Afghanistan. Julian Assange wrote, "Such censorship strips a nation of its right to self-determination on a matter which affects its whole population. An ongoing crime of mass espionage is being committed against the victim state and its population. By denying an entire population the knowledge of its own victimization, this act of censorship denies each individual in that country the opportunity to seek an effective remedy, whether in international courts, or elsewhere. Pre-notification to the perpetrating authorities also permits the erasure of evidence which could be used in a successful criminal prosecution, civil claim, or other investigations. ... We do not believe it is the place of media to 'aid and abet' a state in escaping detection and prosecution for a serious crime against a population. Consequently WikiLeaks cannot be complicit in the censorship of victim state X. The country in question is Afghanistan."

15 of 241 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

This, I am unsurprised about by sandbagger · 2014-05-23 00:53 · Score: 4, Interesting

After all, we were at war there. I am wondering as we get to what is being promised as the biggest story of the Snowden documents, what the final scoop will be.

--
---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
1. Re:This, I am unsurprised about by Charliemopps · 2014-05-23 01:44 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  After all, we were at war there.
  No we're not. No war was ever declared and the majority of our troops have left. At best our troops are in an advisory role now. We're training and supporting the afghan military. Once again we invade a country under the pretense of protecting the innocent citizens of that country... but what we really end up doing is victimizing those very citizens. I wont even bother with "if it's legal"... our government clearly doesn't care... but it's immoral, unjust and completely ineffectual. Despite having every phone in the country tapped it took us how long to catch Bin Laden?
Ha, "self-determination" my ass by NotDrWho · 2014-05-23 00:58 · Score: 4, Interesting

The only democracy that the U.S. ever intended to bring to Afghanistan and Iraq was of the "You can choose pro-U.S. candidate number 1, or pro-U.S. candidate number 2" variety.

--
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
1. Re:Ha, "self-determination" my ass by NotDrWho · 2014-05-23 01:54 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  That's the problem with real democracy. The U.S. has always sold democracy as some cure-all that will somehow turn every backwards country into the U.S. in the 1950's. But *real* democracy doesn't do anything of the sort. And lots of electorates, left to their own devices, will immediately vote in some popular dictator or religious zealot. So to stop this, the U.S. has resorted to advancing a kind of pretend democracy--the kind of "democracy" where the U.S. picks all the candidates and the people choose which carbon copy to vote for. Sadly, the U.S. political system itself has become a similar dog-and-pony show.
  
  --
  SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
Re:Giga-Duh. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-05-23 01:01 · Score: 5, Funny

Fix the deficit by mining bitcoins?
Re:Well duh! by jones_supa · 2014-05-23 01:02 · Score: 5, Informative

There seems to always be the obligatory "didn't we all know this already" comment in these NSA discussions. Every time it can be found. I'm tired of it.
No, we didn't know. Beginning with the revelations by Edward Snowden, people's eyes have constantly opened more and more to the things that are happening behind the scenes. Some of it is crazy Orwellian crap that many of us couldn't make up in their wildest dreams.
Re:Good by jythie · 2014-05-23 01:02 · Score: 4, Insightful

Translators? Why bother, the data probably just ends up poorly filed in some tape farm. Data collection is sexy, data processing is dull.
Re:Surprised Assange has no idea what censorship i by Sockatume · 2014-05-23 01:11 · Score: 4, Insightful

The "censorship" in question is the decision not to publish the name of the nation in question:
"By denying an entire population the knowledge of its own victimization, this act of censorship denies each individual in that country the opportunity to seek an effective remedy, whether in international courts, or elsewhere."

--
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
No shit, this is the JOB of the NSA by bemenaker · 2014-05-23 01:12 · Score: 4, Insightful

This part of the Snowden leaks is the part I have a problem with. This is EXACTLY what the NSA is supposed to be doing. Making this part public record does do damage to the US and is part of being a traitor. I have zero problems with Snowden leaking information about the NSA spying on Americans, not because it effects me, but because it's a violation of the Constitution and the NSA does NOT have that authority, regardless of what laws Congress passes. If the SCOTUS wasn't such pussies they would have taken this on years ago and stopped it, but instead they are 100% complicit in this as well. If Snowden has a problem with these actions from the NSA, why did he take a job there in the first place?
1. Re:No shit, this is the JOB of the NSA by swillden · 2014-05-23 01:54 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Snowden and everybody but wikileaks saw fit to redact this for security reasons. This news isn't SNOWDEN betraying jack shit.
  Well, Snowden betrayed it to Wikileaks.
  On balance, I think the benefit of Snowden's actions far outweigh any damage done. Given that it likely wasn't practical for him to vet all the information, and that there was an overwhelming need to disclose the NSA's betrayal of its own people, I think he did the right thing and still consider him a hero. Nevertheless, I do agree that some of the NSA's foreign activities are legitimate and didn't need to be disclosed.
  
  --
  Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
2. Re:No shit, this is the JOB of the NSA by Charliemopps · 2014-05-23 01:57 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  What the NSA is doing to foreigners IS harming Americans. It's destroying our reputation, destroying our business contracts, and alienating the entire world. How would you feel if China or Russia developed some new technology that allowed them to listen to all of your phone calls and then they went about doing just that?
  Just because something doesn't implicitly violate the constitution doesn't mean it's right and just. How many foreigners are you willing to sacrifice for your own safety? How many dictators are we going to install? People are we going to torture? Freedoms are we going to crush? The whole of the nightmare in the middle east right now is the fault of the united states. Every dictator in recent memory was a product of the CIA/NSA's attempts to secure the low price of oil. All the misery you see there now was to make it cheaper for you to get to work in the morning, not to protect you from "terrorists". We're murdering hundreds of thousands of people, men, women and children, all in some insane game of simcity, trying to fix the mess we created. At some point we need to just back away and let these people live their lives. WE are the problem. Not them. If some of their crazies manage to knock down a few of our buildings well... we deserve it.
Re:Surprised Assange has no idea what censorship i by ka9dgx · 2014-05-23 01:12 · Score: 5, Insightful

When you listen to them talking politics, and then bomb the wedding down the street instead... that's US Intelligence.
Re:Well duh! by L4t3r4lu5 · 2014-05-23 01:31 · Score: 4, Insightful

That isn't the problem. Joe Everyman expected them to be doing this, but don't know why it's A Bad Thing. All they see is "It's to stop the terr'rists / perverts / commies!" and don't see how it can be abused, not by those in power now, but those in the future.

20 years from now, when the bigots finally get a real right-wing guy in power, they'll look back at all this data and say "Ok, fella's; Find me everyone who ever talked to a brown guy and revoke their passport."

--
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
Re:Is the other the US by kthreadd · 2014-05-23 01:59 · Score: 5, Funny

Probably not. The NSA is not allowed to spy on Americans.
Re:Well duh! by SuricouRaven · 2014-05-23 02:39 · Score: 4, Insightful

The wing-wing in the US is fairly good at not being overtly racist. They'e be more likely to target their efforts religiously: Trawl the archives to make a list of everyone who ever insulted God and get them on an employment blacklist. Much as happened during the red scare, when suspected communists faced similar semi-official sanctions, but made possible on a much larger scale by automation.