From Defense Tech: “A few current and former signals intelligence guys have been checking in since this NSA domestic spying story broke. Their reactions range between mildly creeped out and completely pissed off.”
Is the NSA data-mining emails and phone calls, in a technological offshoot of Poindexter’s cancelled Total Information Awareness project? If so, then that would contradict Bush’s insistence that his warrantless domestic spying operation was limited to Americans with ties to terrorists operating overseas. Because data-mining is very broad–like looking for a needle in a haystack. It may also explain why the Bush administration would be reluctant and/or unable to obtain a warrant.
More evidence that this may be the case is a Times article that DefenseTech links to, which reports that the NSA expanded its eavesdropping to include people indirectly connected to suspected terrorists. People with ten or twelve degrees of separation from al Qaeda, which might include your grandma or anyone.
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Balkinization has an excellent analysis of the Bush administration’s arguments: “The basic problem is that when government officials are given exceptions from ordinary civil liberties protections to stop “terrorism” the definition of terrorism will inevitably expand.”
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Jeb Bush in Florida took the initiative and embraced Florida corporations with some no-bid contracts to further the MATRIX development through DBT Online Inc., Accenture and Seisint Technology.
MATRIX, anacronym for the
“Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange” Program
Accenture and Seisint Form Strategic Alliance
Must read my work @dKos earlier this year ::
Accenture | Cheney | Halliburton | Ghost of Enron | SAIC & US Elections
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
Oui-
You are an undisputed bright light in this world of darkness that I sincerely hope many will follow.
One detail some may not know is that the private companies and not the government are the owners of our information. They simply access all of the databases at will.
We will never regain control of the government until we regain the accountability of these private companies contracted to provide services to government.
We’re paying the bill!!
I diaried this here http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2005/12/19/11474/657
This evening on the Newshour it was revealed that one such listening post in England was downloading conversations at the rate of 2,000,000 per hour. So it’s not like 36 wiretaps. It’s 36 authorizations (1 per month?) on billions of tapped conversations.
That’s more like a google tap. What are they up to, perabytes, is that it?
Every 45 days it needed renewal, I think.
The dimensions of this spying are so vast and so indiscriminate, I think it may very well have included the entire population in one sweep.
A technological marvel,but a Constitutional nightmare.