NSA misrepresented scope of data collection to secret court
32 replies, posted
[quote]Washington (CNN) -- The Obama administration on Wednesday declassified opinions from a secret court that oversees government surveillance showing the National Security Agency was broadly collecting domestic Internet communications of Americans and misrepresenting the scope of that effort to the court.
The three opinions include one from October 2011 by U.S. District Judge John Bates, who scolded government lawyers that the NSA had, for the third time in less than three years, belatedly acknowledged it was collecting more data than it was legally allowed to.
"NSA acquires valuable information through its upstream collection, but not without substantial intrusions on Fourth Amendment protected interests," Bates wrote.
The focus of the opinion was the government's admission that for three years, under its authority to monitor foreign communications, it had been collecting information beyond what it gets from Internet service providers, and included data that was entirely domestic.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court estimated the mistaken collection of domestic data, including e-mails and other Internet activity of Americans, totaled 58,000 communications a year.[/quote]
[url]http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/21/politics/nsa-fisa-court/index.html[/url]
not even a little bit suprised
[quote]Government lawyers won approval from the court after making changes and later deleted years of data because some of it couldn't be separated from domestic communications.[/quote]
...
How come we have secret courts? Are they even legal?
[QUOTE=Killer900;41924822]How come we have secret courts? Are they even legal?[/QUOTE]
The secret courts ruled them legal
So has anything changed after the NSA was revealed? Has a single person be charged with anything? Has the slightest thing happened other than them trying to get Snowden and worry about covering their asses later?
[QUOTE=Reds;41924889]So has anything changed after the NSA was revealed? Has a single person be charged with anything? Has the slightest thing happened other than them trying to get Snowden and worry about covering their asses later?[/QUOTE]
They are legitimately above the law.
[editline]22nd August 2013[/editline]
Actually that statement doesn't really make sense since the same people who propagate this kind of crap are the same people with immense pull in law and policy.
The NSA lying to their own secret courts? Damn, that's shady as hell.
And, nothing will ever change.
Does that mean that there's secret courts the secret courts don't know about?
[QUOTE=hypno-toad;41925042]They are legitimately above the law.
[editline]22nd August 2013[/editline]
Actually that statement doesn't really make sense since the same people who propagate this kind of crap are the same people with immense pull in law and policy.[/QUOTE]
[I]And the ones who make decisions are the ones who make the law~[/I]
The NSA are like the world's shittiest Spectres, they're above the law but all they do is use it to spy on people. They should totally just become the National Spectre Agency and fly around space blowing shit up.
[QUOTE=proch;41925379][I]And the ones who make decisions are the ones who make the law~[/I][/QUOTE]
I guess the ~ makes it sarcasm
But it's largely true. The US is basically a failed two party system with a totally useless senate and congress, where everybody in the country has poor political representation.
Even if 80% of the country didn't like what the NSA was doing, there would still be no system in place to stop the surveillance, which is going to be the case.
[QUOTE=hypno-toad;41925432]I guess the ~ makes it sarcasm
But it's largely true. The US is basically a failed two party system with a totally useless senate and congress, where everybody in the country has poor political representation.
Even if 80% of the country didn't like what the NSA was doing, there would still be no system in place to stop the surveillance, which is going to be the case.[/QUOTE]
The Obama administration declared that the NSA can't be tried by a court iirc
[QUOTE=Novangel;41925589]The Obama administration declared that the NSA can't be tried by a court iirc[/QUOTE]Which only gives the impression that the NSA (and ALL of the shady shit they do) are above the law. Pretty damn sure NOBODY is supposed to be above the law.
Is there ANY way to stop this shit? The only I can imagine is something on cold war scale, or something like military riot.
[QUOTE=Solo Wing;41925780]Which only gives the impression that the NSA (and ALL of the shady shit they do) are above the law. Pretty damn sure NOBODY is supposed to be above the law.[/QUOTE]
It is [I]the[/I] time for Americans to liberate their motherland for freedom, once again.
[QUOTE=A B.A. Survivor;41925341]Does that mean that there's secret courts the secret courts don't know about?[/QUOTE]
It's secret courts all the way down.
[QUOTE=hypno-toad;41925042]They are legitimately above the law.
[editline]22nd August 2013[/editline]
Actually that statement doesn't really make sense since the same people who propagate this kind of crap are the same people with immense pull in law and policy.[/QUOTE]
I guess you could say they ARE the law.
You could also say they betrayed it.
Of course we all know they lie to Congress about everything, but they even lie to the secret kangaroo court that supposedly oversees them?
The NSA is completely out of control.
[QUOTE=Alyx;41925831]It is [I]the[/I] time for Americans to liberate their motherland for freedom, once again.[/QUOTE]
Most Americans are too apathetic or misinformed or just plain stupid to give a single fuck.
[QUOTE=Disgruntled;41926666]I guess you could say they ARE the law.
You could also say they betrayed it.[/QUOTE]
So they're... Gonna go on the Long Walk?
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;41926771]Of course we all know they lie to Congress about everything, but they even lie to the secret kangaroo court that supposedly oversees them?
The NSA is completely out of control.[/QUOTE]
The thought of an agency that powerful going rogue is, quite frankly, terrifying.
[QUOTE=Disgruntled;41927391]The thought of an agency that powerful going rogue is, quite frankly, terrifying.[/QUOTE]
Thank god it's not one of the agencies that have guys with guns. Imagine if FBI went rouge :v:
[QUOTE=Riller;41927400]Thank god it's not one of the agencies that have guys with guns. Imagine if FBI went rouge :v:[/QUOTE]
I know, but it'd be a lot worse if the FBI went vert
[QUOTE=Riller;41927400]Thank god it's not one of the agencies that have guys with guns. Imagine if FBI went rouge :v:[/QUOTE]
I don't think it'd take too much effort for the NSA to get guns. It wouldn't be anything like Third Echelon, but they could still make some serious trouble.
[QUOTE=Mingebox;41926356]It's secret courts all the way down.[/QUOTE]
SHHH! If you say too much, they'll throw you into Secret Jail!
[QUOTE=Disgruntled;41927480]I don't think it'd take too much effort for the NSA to get guns. It wouldn't be anything like Third Echelon, but they could still make some serious trouble.[/QUOTE]
Well, the NSA are a bunch of [I]nerds[/I], how the hell would they threaten anyone if they had guns? The ATF would just laugh at them and give them a wedgie.
[QUOTE=Disgruntled;41927480]I don't think it'd take too much effort for the NSA to get guns. It wouldn't be anything like Third Echelon, but they could still make some serious trouble.[/QUOTE]
The US govt has guns, thats what you should worry about
[QUOTE=DesolateGrun;41931234]The US govt has guns, thats what you should worry about[/QUOTE]
Every world government has guns. I imagine most are also just itching for an excuse to use them. This isn't new.
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