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File Says NSA Found Way To Replace Email Program (nytimes.com)
schwit1 writes: Newly disclosed documents show that the NSA had found a way to create the functional equivalent of programs that had been shut down. The shift has permitted the agency to continue analyzing social links revealed by Americans' email patterns, but without collecting the data in bulk from American telecommunications companies — and with less oversight by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
The disclosure comes as a sister program that collects Americans' phone records in bulk is set to end this month. Under a law enacted in June, known as the USA Freedom Act, the program will be replaced with a system in which the NSA can still gain access to the data to hunt for associates of terrorism suspects, but the bulk logs will stay in the hands of phone companies.
The newly disclosed information about the email records program is contained in a report by the NSA's inspector general that was obtained through a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act. One passage lists four reasons the NSA decided to end the email program and purge previously collected data. Three were redacted, but the fourth was uncensored. It said that "other authorities can satisfy certain foreign intelligence requirements" that the bulk email records program "had been designed to meet."
The disclosure comes as a sister program that collects Americans' phone records in bulk is set to end this month. Under a law enacted in June, known as the USA Freedom Act, the program will be replaced with a system in which the NSA can still gain access to the data to hunt for associates of terrorism suspects, but the bulk logs will stay in the hands of phone companies.
The newly disclosed information about the email records program is contained in a report by the NSA's inspector general that was obtained through a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act. One passage lists four reasons the NSA decided to end the email program and purge previously collected data. Three were redacted, but the fourth was uncensored. It said that "other authorities can satisfy certain foreign intelligence requirements" that the bulk email records program "had been designed to meet."
If this can happen, clearly there are problems with the separation of powers (i.e. the Executive is walking all-over the Congress). Unfortunately, the Congress is either too weak to regain their Constitutional rights and powers, or it simply doesn't want to.
Too bad we cannot harness the energy output from the founding fathers turning and spinning in their graves.
Yeah, Jefferson was an incredible hypocrite. He's also one of the major reasons the U.S. Constitution has the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights, in turn, has done far more to promote liberty in the U.S. and the world at large than any other single thing in history. So, yes, I'll drink to the old bastard.
To paraphrase Jefferson: "A government big enough to give you everything you want, is a government big enough to listen to your every word and track your every move."
Whether Jefferson said it or not, it's also important to note that, no matter how much power you foolishly cede to the government, you still don't get everything you want. To me, at least, it's not really clear that you get much of anything in exchange.
Given their track record, it seems likely the NSA replaced one horribly overreaching program with another. But as far as I can tell, there's little or no evidence (yet) to tell us this new program is equally invasive of Americans' privacy - in fact, that report didn't seem to contain any details at all. While I am very skeptical of this, there is always the possibility they could find a way to accomplish this in a more targeted manner we would not find onerous.
Of course, the basic problem is - telling us what they're doing, in that case, would likely make such a new program worthless. And it's pointless for them to say "just trust us", since they thoroughly burned that bridge to the ground over the past twenty or so years. Not to mention that we can't trust Congress or the President to effectively oversee such a program and protect our constitutional rights, since they also have a demonstrated history of thoroughly abrogating their responsibility on that subject.
I'm not sure what the solution is, unfortunately.
#DeleteChrome
At the altar of sacrosanct police and military spending you'll find the most anti-welfare-state, anti-public-infrastructure activists imaginable. And notice that its *private* services that always seem to be on the cutting edge of expanding surveillance in this country.
Police states form when the political class feels that police and military are the first and last resort to peace and prosperity. And they may resort to impoverishing the public to keep those police and soldiers well staffed and well fed.