NSA building massive database of US domestic phone records

[Vesayen]

How the hell could they distinguish between buisness and personal calls?

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Originally posted by Arrian


And you approve of this?

-Arrian

Considering this information is already data mined nine ways to Sunday by any other interested group, its Meh....

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Vesayen
How the hell could they distinguish between buisness and personal calls?

The easy answer is... they won't.

[Koyaanisqatsi]

And in related news...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12727867/

Security issue kills domestic spying inquiry
NSA won’t grant Justice Department lawyers required security clearance

The Associated Press
Updated: 8:41 p.m. ET May 10, 2006


WASHINGTON - The government has abruptly ended an inquiry into the warrantless eavesdropping program because the National Security Agency refused to grant Justice Department lawyers the necessary security clearance to probe the matter.

The inquiry headed by the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, or OPR, sent a fax to Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., on Wednesday saying they were closing their inquiry because without clearance their lawyers cannot examine Justice lawyers’ role in the program.

“We have been unable to make any meaningful progress in our investigation because OPR has been denied security clearances for access to information about the NSA program,” OPR counsel H. Marshall Jarrett wrote to Hinchey. Hinchey’s office shared the letter with The Associated Press.

Jarrett wrote that beginning in January 2006, his office has made a series of requests for the necessary clearances. Those requests were denied Tuesday.

“Without these clearances, we cannot investigate this matter and therefore have closed our investigation,” wrote Jarrett.

Hinchey is one of many House Democrats who have been highly critical of the domestic eavesdropping program first revealed in December.


In February, the OPR announced it would examine the conduct of their own agency’s lawyers in the program, though they were not authorized to investigate NSA activities.

Bush’s decision to authorize the largest U.S. spy agency to monitor people inside the United States, without warrants, generated a host of questions about the program’s legal justification.

The administration has vehemently defended the eavesdropping, saying the NSA’s activities were narrowly targeted to intercept international calls and e-mails of Americans and others inside the U.S. with suspected ties to the al-Qaida terrorist network.

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Yay for oversight!

[KrazyHorse]

Are you guys going to get tired of being a banana republic any time soon?

[Ted Striker]

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by Koyaanisqatsi
And in related news...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12727867/

Security issue kills domestic spying inquiry
NSA won’t grant Justice Department lawyers required security clearance

The Associated Press
Updated: 8:41 p.m. ET May 10, 2006


WASHINGTON - The government has abruptly ended an inquiry into the warrantless eavesdropping program because the National Security Agency refused to grant Justice Department lawyers the necessary security clearance to probe the matter.

The inquiry headed by the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, or OPR, sent a fax to Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., on Wednesday saying they were closing their inquiry because without clearance their lawyers cannot examine Justice lawyers’ role in the program.

“We have been unable to make any meaningful progress in our investigation because OPR has been denied security clearances for access to information about the NSA program,” OPR counsel H. Marshall Jarrett wrote to Hinchey. Hinchey’s office shared the letter with The Associated Press.

Jarrett wrote that beginning in January 2006, his office has made a series of requests for the necessary clearances. Those requests were denied Tuesday.

“Without these clearances, we cannot investigate this matter and therefore have closed our investigation,” wrote Jarrett.

Hinchey is one of many House Democrats who have been highly critical of the domestic eavesdropping program first revealed in December.


In February, the OPR announced it would examine the conduct of their own agency’s lawyers in the program, though they were not authorized to investigate NSA activities.

Bush’s decision to authorize the largest U.S. spy agency to monitor people inside the United States, without warrants, generated a host of questions about the program’s legal justification.

The administration has vehemently defended the eavesdropping, saying the NSA’s activities were narrowly targeted to intercept international calls and e-mails of Americans and others inside the U.S. with suspected ties to the al-Qaida terrorist network.

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Yay for oversight!

The Justice Department should never just "give up" when it comes to investigations, no matter who it is.

This lack of documents thing is just an excuse for them being ordered to give up.

This has gone way too far already

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Originally posted by Ted Striker
Caller: Ogie Ogelthorpe

Time: 1/26/2005, 7PM

Duration: 14h,13m

Number: 1-976-BIG-BUTTS

Owner: Big Butts LLC

I obviously was on hold trying to explain how I was mistakenly billed for services otherwise rendered to one I. Hitit.

[MRT144]

ogie are you defending this because you believe its a good thing, or because everyone else detests it.

[Dinner]

NPR is reporting that supposedly tens of millions of people have had their phone records taken during the Bush administration's giant fishing expedition.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

I actually don't think it a good thing, but seeing as the information is clearly not private I don't see how folk can object. Personally, I wish less governmental intrusion in all respects but fail to see how broadcasting information of this nature which truly gives operational detail (which carriers to use and which not to) aids anyone other than those who the governement is supposedly targetting namely those associated with terror. Its not as if this program can be stopped as it is not illegal.

Clearly this is another instance of the press attempting a gotcha which in the long run if not illegal aids no one save those I mentioned before.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Vesayen
How the hell could they distinguish between buisness and personal calls?

Why, you just listen to them all in order to figure them out.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Originally posted by Oerdin


Why, you just listen to them all in order to figure them out.

Which clearly requires warrant and is clearly laid out in the article as not being the scope of the program (albeit buried after the sensationalism).

[Ninot]

However they do wiretap some, without need for a warrant.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Originally posted by Ninot
However they do wiretap some, without need for a warrant.

Within the limitted scope of those connecting to overseas numbers ID'd as belonging to suspected terrorists, yes.

The legality of which is in debate and strong cases presented on either side. Until settled in supreme court precedence favors the admin.