[jazusamo]

Of course DNI Clapper is already an admitted liar, his assurances mean nothing.

[Secret Agent Man]

FISA - Unconstitutional court.

Are we now going to have coyote courts for coyotes?

Coyotes: your honor, we need to raid this henhouse tonight.

Coyote court: I’ll grant that. Classify top secret so the chickens don’t find out until it’s too late.

What other secret courts exist? How do we know they don’t exist?

[DUMBGRUNT]

“We should not have secret law in a democracy.”

Sounds like double secret probation.

With thousands of pages of laws, rules, codes... Many are secret or very near secret.

[SpaceBar]

The heads of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches need to answer under oath, under pain of perjury, subject to cross examination, and without legal immunity, exactly what specific rights do American citizens currently posses under existing law. And since there is no legal authority to actually do this, we will never know.

[jazusamo]

Please bump the Freepathon or click above and donate or become a monthly donor!

[Bobalu]

Here is something to keep in mind.

They have decided that collecting all data is just fine..as long as you don’t look at it until you get authorization.

There is something else they have almost certainly decided is acceptable. That it’s alright to compromise hardware as long as you don’t exploit the weaknesses unless authorized.

Pretty sobering thought isn’t it!?

NSA runs a state of the art chip fab. They’re not churning out 555 timer chips in there.

For you IT guys out there, imagine you had a chip fab and the means to place your doctored silicon onto hardware.. Just what would you chip to get the best bang for the buck?
I can think of several items that are ripe for chipping.... I bet I have it about right... I bet the hardware is compromised.

[Vendome]

According to the DNI, the NSA only accesses those online records if there is a “foreign intelligence purpose” and the target is “reasonably believed” to be outside of the U.S. The program is authorized by Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and the searches require approval by a secret FISA court.

Hey, KGB wannabe.  The term "reasonable" is an invention for you to create new state powers where none exist and violate those which are enumerated!

The term you must apply is "Probable Cause"

the distinction is quite marked, not even subtle.

With reasonable cause one can conclude that It's Possible to conclude a thing or condition exists.

Under Probable Cause the conclusion leads one to believe by preponderance of facts that a thing or condition must be located in a specific place.

We did away with Witch Hunts centuries ago and we can do away with FISA, returning Americans God given and sacrosanct rights to privacy.

[Vendome]

1. What other data is being collected under the Patriot Act? Name it.  Just watch any crime show and you get the idea.  NCIS is a good example.

2. How broad are the programs? Well, if anyone and everyone's information is scooped up and never discarded or rarely, you tell me.

3. What’s the legal rationale? Well, the STAR Chamber or FISA is the only one who could shed light on this but, that doesn't seem likely.  It would run counter to Patriot Acts 1 & II.  What is beyond the pale is to have a super secret court that can shut you down from communication anything about a Patriot Act action, including to your attorney.  It's even more galling to know FISA is merely a rubber stamp bureaucracy but, is not responsible for seeing through the process of an investigation up to and including prosecution.

Further, I object to their use of "reasonable cause" when the 4th amendment calls for "probable cause"

4. Is the NSA still collecting email records?

Is that a trick question?  Like Carnivore before PRISM, when one program "supposedly" ends another is started.  Likely because the ability to collect information at ever great speed and volume becomes more capable.  So yeah, they are still collecting.

5. Are there other programs that we don’t know about?

Sure.  Of the many programs out there we have learned about over the years there would be others we don't know about and will continue until we figure out how to end this encroachment on freedeoms that asks only "If you don't have anything to hide, then what's the big deal?".

[cripplecreek]

6. What does this cost?

[Travis McGee]

Welcome to the USSA, Comrades.

A 6-minute YouTube video by yours truly and Mark P. Ferri, about the loss of freedom in America.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

You make it sound like a bad thing:

First we sort it for Spanish surnames.
Then we sort it by calls to a foreign country (Mexico)
Then we compare it to the lists of expired visas, criminal court actions and motor vehicle accidents.
Next we pull up the street addresses.

[Lexinom]

it only “queries” the database a limited number of times for specific national security reasons.

Richardson explained that a single query could be an algorithm that scans the database and returns information on many people.

This is actually very normal. Companies mine data to create huge normalized databases of publicly-available data, and very often only a very small portion of that data is useful.

A "query" might look like "SELECT customerName FROM callHistory WHERE targetPhone LIKE '966%' AND callDate BETWEEN '2012-03-31' AND '2012-05-01';" to return the names of all individuals who called Saudi Arabia during April of 2012.

This is simple textbook stuff.

[HDCochran]

6. What arrangements have been made with Britain, Germany, etc. to collect the information on US citizens in the USA for the NSA in exchange for our collecting information for them on their citizens in their countries? That way everyone can testify under oath, “We do not collect information on our citizens in our country without a warrant.”

I believe reading some years ago that this is precisely the way NSA circumvents the Constitution.

[District13]

Something came out at the NSA protest on July 4th at NSA ground zero in Utah: You know when you are typing an email or typing something on a social network site - remember the times that you typed something rather harsh or inflammatory and you came to your senses and thought better of it and deleted it? Well, every one of your keystrokes - including the deletes - is held in storage.

Now suppose you have an enemy in high places (i.e., a liberal democRAT), your goose is cooked, baby! They can put your name out there and everything you ever typed or thought or said can be used against you. Doesn’t matter what your motive was; they can twist you up one side and down the other until you are thoroughly destroyed!

I mean, I have said/typed a lot of things I didn’t mean or that could be misconstrued or when I was really pissed off about something at the time. The powers that be can use my words to nail me! Whatever happened to FREEDOM OF SPEECH? This is some really scary stuff!! Our own country has turned against us.

I thank God for Snowden!!