NSA ending bulk collection of U.S. phone records

[lawyerup (OP)]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/nsa-ending-bulk-collection-of-us-phone-records/ar-AAfLfUT?li=BBnb7Kz

he US National Security Agency (NSA) will end the daily monitoring of millions of Americans' phone records by Sunday and replace the practice with more tightly targeted surveillance methods, officials have said.

As required by law, the NSA will stop its wide-ranging surveillance programme just before midnight on Sunday. A new, scaled-back system is expected to be in place by the same time, the White House said on Friday.

The move comes two and a half years after the controversial programme was exposed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

The change, mandated by a law passed six months ago, represents the greatest reduction of US spying capabilities since they expanded dramatically after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Al Jazeera's Shihab Rattansi, reporting from Washington, said there was no evidence that the programme had thwarted any attacks on the US.

"It was completely useless and as the federal courts found out, it was completely unconstitutional ... because of Edward Snowden's leaks a debate began and light was shone on the programme," Rattansi said.

"There were people in the NSA themselves who said this was getting unwieldy."

Under the Freedom Act, the NSA and law enforcement agencies can no longer collect telephone calling records in bulk in an effort to identify suspicious activity.

Such records, known as "metadata," reveal which numbers Americans are calling and what time they place those calls, but not the content of the conversations.

Instead, analysts must now get a court order to ask telecommunications companies to enable monitoring of call records of specific people, or groups, for up to six months.

[dizzle]

Fuck ya!!!!!


Thanks to Mr. Snowden our (non-sheeple) citizens have pushed back, I can only say that I personally have had this shit interfere with my life directly. The unconstitutional collection of private comms made a fucking giant mess for me in 2013. I walked away from it without a jail cell or opening my mouth, but shit, that wasn't easy and every time I hear about this kinda shit I thank god that people like Snowden, Binney, Drake and Klein are out there putting their lives on the line to expose this kinda shit. Land of the free my ass, home of the brave applies for some though....

[jdub]

I'm more than a little skeptical that the NSA will actually comply. They give two shits about the constitution as they've repeatedly proved. At least the courts did the right thing.

[DeadCat]

I'm more than a little skeptical that the NSA will actually comply. They give two shits about the constitution as they've repeatedly proved. At least the courts did the right thing.

On the surface this SOUNDS good but I fear it just means they will find a work-around to keep on collecting metada. It's built right into the telecoms physical plants all over the country and I'm incined to believe we are just one serious "event" away from de facto suspension of the Constitutional rights we have left. Although, this could be the Obama that ran in 2008 coming back now that he is free from running for reelection. One can hope.

Meanwhile, Muslim extremists hit Paris and their reactions include placing climate change activists under literal house arrest and forbid any demonstsrations during the upcoming Climate Change Confrence there? WTF? Yah, I know thats France but that's how power acts.

[Chip]

how would you know anyway ?

in Australia, they are archiving mobile communicate call and message meta-data, not content.

[Z]

how would you know anyway ?

in Australia, they are archiving mobile communicate call and message meta-data, not content.

James Clapper also swore under oath that American communications were not being intercepted.  I don't believe it for a minute.  Canada has mostly ignored the issue to my knowledge, and we are eye deep in the whole mess too.

There's a newish interview with Snowden here:https://theintercept.com/2015/11/12/edward-snowden-explains-how-to-reclaim-your-privacy/

[_Enduser]

they don't need phone records anymore
the state is mining our data online

[DeadCat]

One dodge they have been doing for years already is found under the "Five Eyes" (FVEY) agreement.  For those that didn'talready know, the charters of the CIA and NSA (and other) intelligence organizations forbid (or did) them from operating INSIDE the USA w/o a specific (FISA) warrant. So the 5 countries of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States monitor each others' electronics and then share it with each other. So, the NSA can say "We don't evesdrop on domestic calls" and be (essentially) telling the truth. They just let the other 4 countries do it to us and then all share the data.

The goal which is probably now complete is called "Total Informational Awareness" and you can safely ssume that EVERYTHING you do using any electronic device is being recorded and stored if not immediately scanned for "suspicious" activities. This also incluses you papr mail, as every envelope is now scanned and archived so they know from who and to whom you correspond.

I believe that any of us participating on boards like this are probably placed in a higher "threat" or suspicion category than participating in all but completely apoplitical and non-controversial message boards. The Patriot Acts and things like NDAA categorize drug, eco and animal rights activities as "Terrorist Threatss" already because we question the corporate state and the status quo.

It's off the wall in favor of big business and big agra and pharma. Under the "Patriot" Act you now can't publish or transmit anything that MIGHT "cause fear" about things like the beef industry or face arrest and/or financial ruin. If you are curious how far and effective this muzzling goes watch the documentary "COWspiracy" that starts with a California water conservationist's efforts to use less water which leads him to find out how much worse big agra is than ALL OTHER carbon and methane ("greenhouse gasses")is combined. Yet when he tries to ask why it is not being addressed he is met by a comlete stonewall of silence from government officials and conservation groups to the point that it is pretty clear that they have been forbidden from comment bt someone or some thing that scares the shit out of them.

I really hate sounding like an alarmist, but the truth is the deeper you look, the worse it looks.

[DeadCat]

Yup. It's as I mentioned earlier; the data is still being collected now it is just being done by the telecomms and handed over to the state, for which they will be paid. That's the work-around.

http://theantimedia.org/the-nsa-stopped-spying-on-americans-last-night-just-kidding/