Years of unlawful phone record searches by FBI
From The Washington Post:
“FBI general counsel Valerie Caproni said in an interview Monday that the FBI technically violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act when agents invoked nonexistent emergencies to collect records.”
“FBI officials told The Post that their own review has found that about half of the 4,400 toll records collected in emergency situations or with after-the-fact approvals were done in technical violation of the law.”
“Among those whose phone records were searched improperly were journalists for The Washington Post and the New York Times, according to interviews with government officials.”
So that would constitute criminality no?
Read the full article: “FBI broke law for years in phone record searches” -WaPo
meet the new boss
When the Bush administration asterisked the bill of rights with claims of executive privilege and state secrets they woke many a citizen to the frailty of our system. The so-called city on a hill was ready to sacrifice its constitution for the safety offered up by an unchecked executive branch.
Yes our concept of checks and balances, co-equal branches of government, and the rule of law were nice ideas, but when faced with the hard reality of guys with box cutters it was those in the choir of American exceptionalism (ironically many of the same voices who use American ideals as justification for all sorts of expansionist policies) who were among the first to advocate sacrificing liberty for a little security.
Now it appears the Obama administration is ready to pick up where these self-styled pragmatists left off. If you haven’t been tracking these issues read on and weigh in:
Wiretapping, FISA, and privacy: Obama vs. Courts, Obama Channels Cheney
Extraordinary rendition: Obama preserves renditions as counter-terrorism tool.
Obama on Surveillance of Citizens: Obama Goes to Bat for Secrecy.
Telecom Immunity: Obama Administration Supports Telco Spy Immunity , Obama loses state secrets argument setting up possible judicial showdown
Verizon snoops Obama
Verizon has once again demonstrated that they cannot be entrusted with their customer’s private data. It was revealed today that multiple Verizon employees have accessed President-elect Obama’s cell phone records without authorization. The employees have apparently been put on paid leave until further notice.
According to telecom analyst Michael King of Gartner, the snoops could likely see the numbers Obama had called, how long his conversations lasted and when he made his calls.
The incident is reminiscent of a time earlier this year when State Department employees were caught snooping in Obama’s passport records as well as those of fellow presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and John McCain.
Obama is no doubt only one of many citizen’s having their privacy violated by cellular companies like Verizon. In fact a 2006 lawsuit filed against Verizon alleges the existence of a third party data center being operated out of Quantico Virginia — home to a Marines base as well as the center of FBI surveillance operations– where eavesdroppers could access “all content and all information concerning the origin and termination of telephone calls placed on the Verizon Wireless network as well as the actual content of calls.” For more on this bit head over to Wired or the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
big brothers without borders
CBS News recently spoke with Mr. Joel Brenner, who they described as “the nation’s top cyber-security official” about the security risks facing U.S. travelers planning on attending the Beijing Olympics.
The travel advisory was blunt: “All information you send electronically-by fax machine, personal digital assistant (PDA), computer or telephone-can be intercepted.” It was of course non-news.
Then came an exchange between Mr. Brenner and reporter Bob Orr that must have come as a surprise to at least a few viewers:
Brenner: “The public security services in China can turn your telephone on and activate its microphone when you think it’s off.”
Orr: If the phone’s in my pocket, and it’s off, you’re saying an outside force, an outside agent can turn it on?
Brenner: Yeah
Orr: And listen to what I’m doing?
Brenner: That is what I’m saying.
Orr: And my Blackberry?
Brenner: Same thing.
Well, there you have it. The head of U.S. cyber-security is a card carrying member of the tin-foil hat brigade. I mean really. Even if it were possible for some shadowy (Chinese) government agency to turn my phone on after I had PUSHED–AND HELD– THE OFF BUTTON… what would I have to worry about? I’ve done nothing wrong, and therefore have nothing to hide. Isn’t that the way the argument goes?
Anyways, maybe it’s Mr. Brenner who’s got something to hide… or maybe he’s got something or other he just doesn’t want us thinking too much about.
Sure glad the ol’ US of A would never sell my sovereign rights down the river like those sneaky Chinese.
Oh and in case you were wondering how to foil the Leviathan that is the (Chinese) surveillance state: remove your cellphone batteries. Sorry iphoners, any attempt to pull your battery makes your warranty null and void.
UPDATE: For reasons unknown, the video which was hosted on the CBS website appears to have been taken down. I’ve updated my link to point to the same video, now hosted by cnet.com.
Ellsberg on FISA: basis for tyranny
The following is a paraphrased transcription of an interview with Mr. Ellsberg that I found over at www.fourhourworkweek.com:
[People] should ask themselves whether they think it’s possible that various members of Congress have either something to hide or something that would embarrass them politically that they don’t want out…
It could be things that the congressperson, or the journalist, or the source wants to achieve or are planning to achieve that the government can manipulate by blocking it, by frustrating them, by promising to them. In other words, this information would enable the government to intimidate or blackmail, or manipulate every member of Congress, every official who might be tempted to reveal criminality, people like the ones in the NSA who knew that criminal action was, and is going on. This law is intended to legalize it basically, and to continue the cover-up, to conceal it.
You can’t have a democracy, with the state, the executive branch having that kind of information… total information about the, about every communication, every credit card transaction, the fax, e-mail, telephone conversations of everyone. And as far as we know, that’s what’s being collected right now.
Two hundred years ago, Ben Franklin was asked what kind of government we had at the end of the Constitutional Convention, and he told the lady who asked him that, “A republic, if we can keep it.” You can’t keep a republic, a constitutional republic with that degree of knowledge by the president and the executive branch… you have something else… you can call it an autocracy, a dictatorship. It’s the basis for tyranny. And that’s what the constitution was meant to prevent. And that’s what this bill would confer: Unlimited power, in the way the East German Stasi, the state surveillance organization… You can live lives, weddings, education, business, jobs, you can go along as normal… but you’re not living in a democracy or anything that even pretends to be one.
… I really admire some members of congress who are doing, planning to do, and will do I’m confident everything they can to block this unconstitutional, dangerous legislation. The way I see them, it reminds me of [the] opposition by Henry David Thoreau, which was very much in my mind when I… copied the Pentagon Papers and gave it to the New York Times. He said, “There are thousands of people who are opposed to slavery”, in his time that was in 1848 “and to the Mexican War” which was a war of aggression… in opinion. “But they do nothing in effect to stop it. They hesitate and they regret, but they do nothing in earnest or with effect. At most,” he said “they give a cheap vote.” Well, he went on to say, “Cast your whole vote, not a piece of paper merely, but your whole influence.” He said “A minority is powerless when it conforms to the majority. It is not even a minority then. But is irresistable when it clogs by its whole weight.” Now for a Senator, you can’t do this in the House of Representatives, but for a Senator who casts his or her whole vote, means to clog by his or her whole weight, with a filibuster, a minority of people: Senators Dodd, Feingold, Senator Boxer, and Senator Wyden have already promised to filibuster this in attempt to prologue the debate so that this bill does not infringe on our liberties after all, and others can join them.
So this is a chance now for all the voters and citizens, and Obama supporters and Republicans who care about the Constitution… every viewer in the next hours can fill the… message services of their senators, wherever they are, Republican or Democrat… they have a chance to make a real difference here to keep the freedom and the liberty that we celebrated just two days ago on July the 4th, from beginning to die two days from now. It’s in mortal danger right now. It can be preserved if senators can be urged to live up to their oaths, the same oath I took, to uphold the Constitution.
I have to say that no senator, Republican or Democrat, should be voting for this Senate bill — not one. Every one who does so, is in fact violating his or her oath to defend the Constitution. But they can do better than that. Specifically, Senator Obama who had earlier promised to join a filibuster is now indicating for reasons I don’t know honestly, to change that –reverse that position… Over twenty thousand of his supporters… are appealing to him, saying “we support you,” I’m one of those by the way, “we support you, we’ll contribute, but we ask you to do better.”
One easy way to contact your senator about FISA is being provided by Blue America. They will connect you for free.
Here’s a list of senators who voted for FISA the last time it was in the Senate and are most likely to vote for it again this time around. Please spend a few minutes and reach out to one or several of these senators:
Democrats:
Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Evan Bayh (D-IA), Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Herb Kohl (D-WI), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Mark Pryor (D-AR), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Ken Salazar (D-CO), Tom Carper (D-DE), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Jim Webb (D-VA), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Kent Conrad (D-ND), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Not voting: Clinton (D-NY)
Republicans:
Alexander (R-TN), Corker (R-TN), Allard (R-CO), Barrasso (R-WY), Enzi (R-WY), Bennett (R-UT), Hatch (R-UT), Bond (R-MO), Brownback (R-KS), Roberts (R-KS), Bunning (R-KY), McConnell (R-KY), Burr (R-NC), Dole (R-NC), Chambliss (R-GA), Isakson (R-GA), Coburn (R-OK), Inhofe (R-OK), Cochran (R-MS), Wicker (R-MS), Coleman (R-MN), Collins (R-ME), Snowe (R-ME), Cornyn (R-TX), Hutchison (R-TX), Craig (R-ID), Crapo (R-ID), DeMint (R-SC), Not Voting: Graham (R-SC), Domenici (R-NM), Ensign (R-NV), Grassley (R-IA), Gregg (R-NH), Sununu (R-NH), Hagel (R-NE), Kyl (R-AZ), McCain (R-AZ), Lieberman (ID-CT), Lugar (R-IN), Martinez (R-FL), Murkowski (R-AK), Sessions (R-AL), Shelby (R-AL)Smith (R-OR), Specter (R-PA), Stevens (R-AK), Thune (R-SD), Vitter (R-LA), Voinovich (R-OH), Warner (R-VA)
You might also consider visiting the wiki that’s been set up for this at Get Fisa Right
One last thought: Anybody in DC should consider going down to the Senate gallery to be there in person to witness this vote on Wednesday. I think a gallery full of citizens gathered for this issue might remind our lawmakers just how important this issue is.
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