More NSA domestic surveillance - XKeyscore

[Grizzmeister]

Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The NSA and others beholden to the Surveillance State claim that email users have no "reasonable" expectation of privacy. Here's a poignant comment I read on Twitter just the other day:

"Password" and "security questions" and "verification" would seem to me to imply a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Things the Authorities Say to Mislead You About NSA Surveillance

It’s been two months since President Barack Obama first said that he welcomes a debate about NSA surveillance, which he once again reiterated last week at his press conference. Unfortunately, it’s very hard to have a real debate about a subject when the administration constantly and intentionally misleads Americans about the NSA’s capabilities and supposed legal powers.

Infamously, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper was forced to apologize for lying to Congress about whether the government was collecting information on millions of Americans, but that was merely the tip of the administration’s iceberg of mendacity and misdirection. At this point, it seems nothing the government says about the NSA can be taken at face value.

Things the Authorities Say to Mislead You About NSA Surveillance

[Neuling]

Yes, someone from Google himself said that Gmail users shall not expect their mails are not read by others. Was in the news here yesterday. I suppose the same applies to Microsoft etc. as well.

Password, security question etc. are just there to make people think their communication is private so that they will say things they would otherwise not say.

The Google guy made an odd analogy. He said something like when you send a letter by snail mail, you have to assume it is opened by the secretary or another family member as well, so why are people surprised Google and others are reading their emails?
Someone rightly wrote in the comments section that the secretary or family member is not the same as the mail service, whose task is to merely transport the thing from sender to receiver

Need I mention that Google, NSA etc. consider themselves trustworthy, so why would people mind them reading their mails...

[Grizzmeister]

NSA, DEA, IRS Lie About Fact That Americans Are Routinely Spied On By Our Government: Time For A Special Prosecutor

It seems that every day brings a new revelation about the scope of the NSA’s heretofore secret warrantless mass surveillance programs. And as we learn more, the picture becomes increasingly alarming. Last week we discovered that the NSA shares information with a division of the Drug Enforcement Administration called the Special Operations Division (SOD). The DEA uses the information in drug investigations. But it also gives NSA data out to other agencies – in particular, the Internal Revenue Service, which, as you might imagine, is always looking for information on tax cheats.

The Obama Administration repeatedly has assured us that the NSA does not collect the private information of ordinary Americans. Those statements simply are not true. We now know that the agency regularly intercepts and inspects Americans’ phone calls, emails, and other communications, and it shares this information with other federal agencies that use it to investigate drug trafficking and tax evasion. Worse, DEA and IRS agents are told to lie to judges and defense attorneys about their use of NSA data, and about the very existence of the SOD, and to make up stories about how these investigations started so that no one will know information is coming from the NSA’s top secret surveillance programs.

NSA, DEA, IRS Lie About Fact That Americans Are Routinely Spied On By Our Government: Time For A Special Prosecutor - Forbes

[Neuling]

New ammo to hunt down Alexander and his fellow crooks:

NSA Surveillance Broke Privacy Rules Thousands Of Times Per Year: Report

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...125_story.html

[evilnewbie]

I like how Obama says he is going to appoint a panel to decrease the unnecessary and intrusive surveillance... that's codespeak for "I am going to do NOTHING except put up a panel to make you think I am doing something about it." Most people know that "panels" are government tools to misdirect people to think they are doing something when they have zero intention of doing anything about it... Obama same as the worst crap, lies and lies and more lies...