Newsweek confirms massive data mining effort triggered warrantless wiretapping showdown.
By Ryan Powers on Dec 15, 2008 at 11:12 am

Newsweek reported over the weekend that “two knowledgeable sources” confirmed that the 2004 clash between the White House and the Justice Department over the NSA’s warrantless surveillance program was triggered by the NSA’s “vast and indiscriminate collection of communications data“:

These sources…describe a system in which the National Security Agency, with cooperation from some of the country’s largest telecommunications companies, was able to vacuum up the records of calls and e-mails of tens of millions of average Americans between September 2001 and March 2004.

The NSA’s powerful computers became vast storehouses of “metadata.” They collected the telephone numbers of callers and recipients in the United States, and the time and duration of the calls. They also collected and stored the subject lines of e-mails, the times they were sent, and the addresses of both senders and recipients. … All this metadata was then sifted by the NSA, using complex algorithms to detect patterns and links that might indicate terrorist activity.

The Justice Department concluded, over White House objections, that the data mining operation constituted “electronic surveillance” and as such was in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Ultimately, the disagreement led to the now infamous confrontation at Attorney General John Ashcroft’s hospital bedside.

there was also that time in like Rolling Stone or whatever when some Homeland Security official just offhandedly mentioned a bomb scare that caused them to put Chicago (or Boston, cant remember) on "lockdown", in which all ingoing and outgoing electronic traffic in the entire city was monitored in real-time both by live analysts and algorithmically. You know, just said it like it was common everyday knowledge and totally not a big deal

HenryKrinkle posted:

On 27 September 2005, a 16 year old Sacramento high school student was interviewed by two FBI agents at his own school for scribbling the letters “PLO” on his binder two years earlier. According to the LA Times, the agents asked him “about the Palestine Liberation Organization and whether he had pictures of suicide bombers stored on his cellphone.” Civil rights groups at the time complained that the school had violated a policy requiring that “parents be notified before law enforcement officials interview a student.” (Progressive, 23 December 2005; LA Times, 16 December 2005)

he was just showing some love for the wu

HenryKrinkle posted:

“A young computer programmer and Muslim American in Northern California was approached for questioning, in his workplace, by the FBI after posting political articles from mainstream news sources on his Facebook page. His Facebook page had privacy settings limiting viewers of his posts to only those in his circle of Facebook friends. Although this young man had no criminal background and was not the subject of an investigation, the FBI contacted him because the articles were interpreted as threatening because of his religious and ethnic background. By approaching him at work, in front of colleagues and managers, the FBI intimidated this young man and jeopardized his job” (Prepared statement of Farhana Khera, 2010, p. 4).

“A physician of Pakistani descent in New England was contacted by the FBI for questioning after peaceful, non‐violent comments he made about the political situation in Pakistan were published in his local newspaper” (Ibid).

On 27 September 2005, a 16 year old Sacramento high school student was interviewed by two FBI agents at his own school for scribbling the letters “PLO” on his binder two years earlier. According to the LA Times, the agents asked him “about the Palestine Liberation Organization and whether he had pictures of suicide bombers stored on his cellphone.” Civil rights groups at the time complained that the school had violated a policy requiring that “parents be notified before law enforcement officials interview a student.” (Progressive, 23 December 2005; LA Times, 16 December 2005)

whoa... the fbi asked some people some questions? that's def. worse than the thousands of muslim terror bombings.

shermanstick posted:

but i use TOR ill be ok

tor flopped massively and bankrupted bioware, im so sorry

eccentricdeathmongrel posted:

I went to the public gym yesterday and the cadets were there, all dressed in grey T-shirts and sweat pants. The average age must have been about 14 or less, and their instructors wore bright red shirts some sort of imperial coat of arms on the top left. The instructors were around 20, some younger. It was essentially the blind leading the blind to their slaughter.
The most disturbing part was when they needlessly marched them into the building in single file after making them stand at attention in two lines. The sound of their sneakers hitting the pavement in unison was pretty disturbing.
This made me think of the Hitler youth and of Kony's child soldiers. I will never understand why a parent would send their child to be indoctrinated by the imperial cult so that their son or daughter can go die for the whims of the ruling class. The most ancient feudalism, monarchy, is what fuels this behavior in Canada. There are pictures of the queen in public school, and I can see a picture of her from where I sit in my University library. Her picture is qualitatively no different than the ludicrous pictures of the North Korean dictator. She is the 'dear leader,' the 'head of state,' and children are expected to learn to fight for her to their death.
I cannot think of a more disturbing sight to see in a modern society than children being trained to march. There is no better way to sew the seeds of destruction than to teach a child that they are a slave to the head of state, and that they are nothing more than cannon fodder.
"I, , do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors. So help me God."
There is no mention of community, democracy, or solidarity. It is just blind allegiance to a Czar. This is not something children should ever learn.

why do you sully the democratic and peaceful people of north korea?