...and for what? Well, here's their defense...TheGuardian: The National Security Agency is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of US customers of Verizon, one of America's largest telecoms providers, under a top secret court order issued in April.
The order, a copy of which has been obtained by the Guardian, requires Verizon on an "ongoing, daily basis" to give the NSA information on all telephone calls in its systems, both within the US and between the US and other countries.
The document shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of US citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk – regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing.
Huh. But another report gives more specificity about the NSA's target that calls into question their so-called protective motives...Reuters: The Obama administration on Thursday defended its collection of a massive amount of telephone records from at least one carrier as part of U.S. counterterrorism efforts, re-igniting a debate over privacy even as it called the practice critical to protecting Americans from attacks.
"Information of the sort described in the Guardian article has been a critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats to the United States, as it allows counterterrorism personnel to discover whether known or suspected terrorists have been in contact with other persons who may be engaged in terrorist activities, particularly people located inside the United States," the senior administration official said.
So, if it's not foreign terrorists that they're trying to locate, who do you think they're referring to as 'domestic terrorists'? Yep, sounding a lot like a broader IRS scandal on steroids, does it not?Forbes: The National Security Agency has long justified its spying powers by arguing that its charter allows surveillance on those outside of the United States, while avoiding intrusions into the private communications of American citizens. But the latest revelation of the extent of the NSA’s surveillance shows that it has focused specifically on Americans, to the degree that its data collection has in at least one major spying incident explicitly excluded those outside the United States.
Aside from the sheer scope of that surveillance order, reminiscent of the warrantless wiretapping scandal under the Bush administration, the other shocking aspect of the order is its target: The order specifically states that only data regarding calls originating in America are to be handed over, not those between foreigners.
Never underestimate the lengths these statists will go to crush dissent. These people make Bush and Nixon combined look like Morse code!
Hey, when even the author of the Patriot Act says Obama's NSA actions are beyond anything allowable within the act, you know this regime has gone too far.
How ironic that '1984' was published 64 years ago today.
