Holy Mother Of God... You KNOW It's Bad When The NSA Tech Director Resigns Over Wire Tapping !!!

[WillyT]

Last edited Tue Aug 14, 2012, 07:29 PM - Edit history (1)

CORRECTION: He resigned because of NSA spying on Americans... before TrapWire... TrapWire is just a privatized version of what the NSA has been doing.

Two weeks ago, former NSA Technical Director William Binney shocked attendants at the DefCon hacker conference when he made this revelation: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/07/binney-on-alexander-and-nsa/

The NSA was indeed collecting e-mails, Twitter writings, internet searches and other data belonging to Americans and indexing it.

“Unfortunately, once the software takes in data, it will build profiles on everyone in that data,” he said. “You can simply call it up by the attributes of anyone you want and it’s in place for people to look at.”

He said the NSA began building its data collection system to spy on Americans prior to 9/11, and then used the terrorist attacks that occurred that year as the excuse to launch the data collection project.

“It started in February 2001 when they started asking telecoms for data,” Binney said. “That to me tells me that the real plan was to spy on Americans from the beginning.” <...>

“The reason I left the NSA was because they started spying on everybody in the country. That’s the reason I left,” said Binney, who resigned from the agency in late 2001.

From: http://my.firedoglake.com/thecallup/2012/08/10/welcome-to-the-police-state-where-you-must-fear-your-freedoms/

[HopeHoops]

1. Fucking flash drives.

[Scuba]

3. That's why I'm still using eight inch floppies.

[HopeHoops]

6. Okay, you've got me beat. I've got 5 1/4, but not 8".

And yes, the 5 1/4 still work.

[Scuba]

7. Yeah, I've got some 8086 machines here that still do what they always did.

Not much.

[HopeHoops]

10. Well, the VIC-20 and C=64 still work, as does the Apple-II. Don't think any 8086's are around.

I've got at least one 386 and a bunch of 486, P-90s, Amigas, and pretty much everything since (other than Atari STs), and I need to clean out the stock (at least 20 machines) by pulling out the useful hardware and taking the rest to the metal recycling center.

I also have four Timex Sinclairs. I don't use them, but I have them.

[Scuba]

17. You need therapy.

[HopeHoops]

19. So I've heard.

[1-Old-Man]

2. This is the single greatest threat to this nation that we face, even worse than plutocracy

We tend to think of the horrors of the Police State, but in fact what we may end up being ruled by is the Intelligence State. You can hide in a Police State, but there is no hiding from modern intelligence.

[Egalitarian Thug]

36. This is the plutocracy. Every intelligence agency this nation has had has been run and staffed by

and for our kleptocrats. Another little trick we picked up from the British.

[aquart]

65. Nah. This is a normal the-price-of-freedom-is-eternal-vigilance. A watched pot, if you will.

The greatest threat to this nation is starvation.

[CabCurious]

4. Didn't he read his non-disclosure forms? :)

[whatchamacallit]

5. Um

DUH!

[sabrina 1]

8. I wonder is he the Wikileaks whistle-blower? Sounds like he has some integrity if he

quit, but quitting would stop it, although not participating is a good enough reason I suppose.

If they are spying on everyone in the country, what do you call that? Is it a Democracy still?

[WillyT]

9. Not According To This Piece:

Link: http://www.alterpolitics.com/politics/welcome-to-the-police-state-where-you-must-fear-your-freedoms/

[sabrina 1]

21. That is a scary article. Now I'm beginning to see why the FISA bill was so important to

pass and why Obama voted for it. That was the first huge disappointment for me regarding this president. But it looks like they had longterm goals and passing that bill was just part of setting up this 'surveillance state'.

Are you concerned about online privacy? Do you pay cash for your coffee at your local coffee shop? Do you ever shield your laptop screen from fellow coffee shop customers, so that they cannot read your private emails? If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these, the FBI believes you fit the profile of a terrorist, and the agency has distributed flyers to coffee shops around the country asking them to report you.

Well, I guess I'm a terrorist, I paid for coffee at Starbuck's today with cash. Is this for real, seriously?

I wonder was I reported today for buying coffee with cash?

I'm not really laughing, but this is ridiculous.

[Beartracks]

38. Eh? So an expectation of privacy is a hallmark of the terrorist mind?

I don't think "not wanting to share my mail" is the same thing as "having something to hide"!

P.S. I can't believe I'm replying to your post, you cash-wielding terrorist!!

=====================

[sabrina 1]

45. Lol, distance yourself or be guilty by association!

If you have nothing to hide, why do you not want to share your mail?

[Beartracks]

47. OMG, you replied. Now I'm pal'ing around with a cash user!

I can never run for President!!

=================================

[CabCurious]

12. Sounds like he has enough integrity to AVOID wikileaks and charlatans like Assange

Yea, I said it.

[sabrina 1]

15. Omg, 'charlatans like Assange'? You've got to be kidding.

Exactly what makes a multiple-award-winning, courageous journalist a 'charlatan' anywhere but on Fox News? I KNOW they hate him but they do what they are told and don't bother with facts. Here we know the facts, so are less likely to buy the Sarah Palin view of anyone.

[WillyT]

20. I Think You Meant...Heroes Like Wikileaks And Assange...

But you're new here... you'll get the hang of it.

Welcome to DU !!!

[sibelian]

48. Mm-hm.

Do you think we're all stupid?

[coalition_unwilling]

50. Welcome to my Ignore list, douche - n/t

[dixiegrrrrl]

18. what do you call that? =Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism (or totalitarian rule) is a political system

where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible.

[1]
Totalitarian regimes stay in political power through an all-encompassing propaganda campaign, which is disseminated through the state-controlled mass media, a single party that

is often marked by political repression, personality cultism, control over the economy, regulation and restriction of speech, mass surveillance, and widespread use of terror.

It is not synonymous to dictatorship, as authoritarian regimes also inhibit dictatorial features, but fail or repudiate utilising these into an all-controlling, all-politicised society.
Similarly, non-dictatorial governments and societies are sometimes denounced as having totalitarian features, including democratic socialism, capitalism and liberal democracy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarianism

[sabrina 1]

24. Yes, that's the word I was looking for, thank you!

I guess if we all behave ourselves, we'll be okay. However I just found out in a link from Willy above in this thread, that if you buy coffee with cash among a few other things, you might be a terrorist. I didn't know that, so today I bought coffee with cash. I promise, I will not do it again!

[dixiegrrrrl]

34. There is a serious movement to move us from a cash society

for the simple reason to have everything..EVERYTHING.....tracked, all expenditures, no matter how small.

Every bank has been asked to take part in the Know Your Customer program in which they will report to the Feds
any deviance in your banking habits. ANY change in the "usual" deposits or withdrawals.
So when I took out my retirement funds in cash,in 2008, they reported me.
Google "Know Your Customer" and see what pops up.
TPTB have been working with Chambers of Commerce across the country to develop a community version of
Know Your Customer, so that any "unusual" purchase will be reported, esp. a large cash purchase.
Supposedly to defeat those terrorists, ya know.
If you spend more than 600.00 for precious metals, you are supposed to be reported.

France had a limit of 2,000.00 dollars(francs) of purchases that had to be reported, then dropped it to 1500.00 and recently, I read, dropped it to 1200.00. I think that was for precious metals, not sure.

[sabrina 1]

46. 'The land of the Free'??

If you spend more than $600 on precious metals you are supposed to be reported?? How are they getting away with this? We do have Representatives who swore to defend and protect the Constitution don't we? Am I naive to think that oath means something?

[AnotherMcIntosh]

11. For the benefit of the NSA, let me say that I think that you're doing a great job.

Couldn't be more pleased.

Thank you very much.

(And don't forget to put my name on your "good" list.)

[CabCurious]

13. They have a special cabinet for NSA Brown-Nosers :)

[AnotherMcIntosh]

14. I also think that other agencies in the Obama Administration are doing a great job.

Each and every one of them, particularly if they rely upon information from NSA.

This is an Administration that really listens to the people.

[sabrina 1]

16. And the only reason I follow Wikileaks on Twitter (and Bradley Manning) is because

I want to be sure they are doing nothing wrong!

Spying is good!! Like Greed!

[WillyT]

22. LOL !!!

You bad...

[dixiegrrrrl]

23. Here's a Wired article that shows the spying in detail:

complete with a graphic of how the spy centers relate.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/ff_nsadatacenter/all/

Much much worse than we were led to believe..

[sabrina 1]

25. Wow!! From Wired too, not a CS publication.

Okay, where are our Representatives? This is just unbelievable.

[valerief]

27. They spend their time with lobbyists and playing video games. nt

[WillyT]

26. Oh Man... They Just HAD To Put It In Utah...

Well... at least when the alien archaeologists dig Utah up... they'll find the family histories of every person that brought this country to ruin.

One stop shopping.

[dixiegrrrrl]

31. Orrin Hatch, bringing them jobs to Utah.

Bet he got paid a pretty penny to do that.

[Hydra]

56. Thanks for posting Dixie

That data center is in my neighborhood, and only whispers about it for the most part. That article covered that well along with the linked Jaguar project.

Amazing the computing speeds we're talking about, for the sole purpose of spying on people.

[dixiegrrrrl]

57. If only they would use that power for world peace

or to solve the climate problem
or to fix Fukishima.
both problems will make the whole spy moot, in due time.

[Hydra]

58. It's all interrelated I think

It's all focused on controlling people and working toward controlled population reduction(ie: not them or their kids). Make the world uninhabitable above ground, move to underground cities, watch everything in the meantime to predict uprisings and information leaks to quash them before they get moving.

I feel for the people who have kids. Their world is going to be one of insanity.

[obxhead]

28. I would like to welcome the NSA to the thread.

You should take a look at many of the threads on the site at large. I'm sure you can learn a little something about the Constitution in one or two of the thousands of threads on the subject while you're here.

[Diclotican]

29. WillyT

WillyT

The National Security Agency NSA have powers, and legal rights that even RVS, FSB, GRU, or the old KGB of the Soviet union was not anywhere to have the possibility to collect, and to act on... Everyone think that the old KGB of the Soviet Union was all-powerfully and was able to know down everything, everywhere anytime.. But the fact is, that KGB, as so many other intelligence systems of the old Soviet block, was in most cases blind as a bat, if they had not anyone to tell them what was happening around the country.. And a lot of information never got to the ones who might was in need of it... That was one of the reasons, the early 1990s ended so bad for Gorbatsjev - and the Soviet Union, because the one who needed the right information never got it...

Even Stasi in East Germany had problems getting on top of it, when things was going bad for the government of East Germany in the fall of 1989... And Stasi was one of the smartest, most advanced, and also one of the most lethal intelligence systems in the whole of the eastern block under most of the cold war...

NSA, can if they choose, from their enormous databases pick up, and collect everything, from everyone. And also have it on screens in just seconds, maybe minutes at worst.. That is the real danger, NSA can, and will misuse it, as everyone who are in power have always being doing.. The NSA have always been secret, and powerful - now after 2001, they can virtually spy on everyone, everywhere in the US, or in the world...

And it will be far more difficult to defend yourself against NSA, than it was to protect yourself against some of the other spy organizations all over the world.. As the world goes digital, we give away tonnes of information, tonnes of private thoughts minds and what else we give away, for free that is... In old times, you could at least keep your mind to yourself - or keep a private book, who was not always difficult for the security system to get a hand on.. Today, we use digital systems to almost everything - even our inner things, who we should keep under lock and key if we was smart...

And you dosen't need to be paranoid - to be afraid someone is keeping an eye on you - not in this days and age...


Diclotican

[WillyT]

30. Yep... And We "Spied Upon" Taxpayers Footed The Bills For Those Cray Computers They're Using...

to keep track of us.

Ironic... to the Nth degree.



Thanks for your post.

[tiny elvis]

32. It started in February 2001

no time to waste
september waits

[magical thyme]

33. just thought I'd pop in and say "Hi!" to the NSA

oh, and, um, "Welcome, new Overlords! I like you much better than the old Overlords!"

I do have a question. Do checks count as cash? Do you prefer we use credit or debit cards? Because I do a lot in cash and checks. So sorry. I'll try to follow the rules better in the future....

[truebrit71]

35. So what does this all mean for Agent Mike?

He works for the NSA now?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

37. I'm sure the White House and/or congress will launch an investigation into the abuses of the NSA.

And, free Bradley Manning and give a medal to Julian Assange for their whistleblowing efforts.

[WillyT]

39. LOL !!!

[woo me with science]

40. God, we are so screwed. nt

[kath]

63. Oh, yes, for sure!

Because our "Democratic" president (thank gawd he's not a Republican) is a Constitutional scholar, and he's all about protecting the Bill of Rights...

[woo me with science]

41. Welcome to neoAmerica.

You might be a terrorist if...

[pacalo]

42. This all started with The Selection's White House occupancy in 2001...

Here is the reality about freedom: you may have a bill of rights, but if you are brutalized anytime you attempt to exercise those rights, you eventually become intimidated from ever doing so. And that appears to be the new order in America.

... & the Republicans continue to brutalize those who dare to speak out against their harsh policies:

[Zax2me]

43. Wow!

wow....

[Zorra]

44. What everyone really needs to understand about the majority of cops, is that

they don't believe that performing their job in a lawful manner is necessary. Cops cheat whenever the opportunity/possibility arises. Because they can get away with it.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

The founders of this country understood this, and wisely tried to severely limit police powers to the greatest extent that they were able. Unfortunately, our plutarchal 1% dictatorship now has the technology to watch sperm penetrate ovum in your bedroom from a satellite surveillance device. And they are so far above the law that they can commit any illegal act that money can buy with impunity in order to insure complete protection of their profits and investments.

Think J. Edgar Hoover, and you can get a better overall understanding of how the minds of the majority of cops operate. They don't care about our rights in the slightest.

Hats off to former NSA Technical Director William Binney for being an honest cop.


Hi, Agent Mike! Been awhile.

[KoKo]

54. Does this mean we need to wrap with

double strength Reynolds Foil before we have sex? Would that be the low tech trick to foil their efforts?



Unfortunately, our plutarchal 1% dictatorship now has the technology to watch sperm penetrate ovum in your bedroom from a satellite surveillance device. And they are so far above the law that they can commit any illegal act that money can buy with impunity in order to insure complete protection of their profits and investments.

[xchrom]

49. ...

NSA!

[aquart]

51. Seems to me, that much data is as good as no data.

[Hydra]

55. On the contrary

They have it all indexed, cross indexed and decrypted.

In other words, your post is now archived with all other posts, websites, financial transactions and personal information of yours, including where you are at this particular moment.

They have profiles for all of us who are on the grid, and probably a fair number for people who ducked out or are trying to stay off the grid.

The intel value of this for the 1%, who are severely outnumbered, cannot be overstated.

[aquart]

59. They do, huh?

Finally, a gov't program that's flawless!

If they cross index properly, EVERYBODY goes to jail. Which is where it all runs right off the rails. I'm sure they'll have a nice formula to fix it, though.

Talk about playing Kevin Bacon.

[Hydra]

60. You're quite right

Just about everyone has a skeleton in the closet, but I don't think that bothers them. Leaks? Gays? Quakers? Peace Activists? Social Justice people? Them's be dangerous. That, and pot smokers.

Basically, they want the people who upset the status quo in jail...or dead. Be tea party- you can be a terrorist and they'll leave you alone.

Seriously though, the idea that the gov't can't do anything right is laughable. The Manhattan Project was not a gross failure. The internet wasn't a failure. Facebook may be the most successful personal information sucking system I've ever seen. Even many gross failures like the 250 million dollar jet in the ocean today were successes for the people selling said POS jets.

[upi402]

62. The military has some brilliant people

I never bought the, " 'naval intelligence' is an oxymoron" crap.
There are talented people in government. Not always critical thinkers, but gifted.

[aquart]

64. If we fill the jails with political prisoners, can we let the potsmokers go?

Having had family members arrested, jailed, murdered under pretty much every political system of the 20th century I still fail to be moved by this massive amount of unread data. Sorted? Big deal.

The Manhattan Project and the internet (I remember being completely confused over the hysterical joy at watching a coffee pot) involved the exchanged of very concentrated info among fairly few people.

I say again, there is too much information here. They think they want it all like they want no taxes. Shortsightedness is the hallmark of right wing thinking.

[Hydra]

66. *Shrugs*

We'll see how far they go with this, but if I can see how to use such data constructively/destructively, you can bet they've already done it and probably done me one better. In fact, I can almost guarantee it- I've been reading about how all of this has basically been in place already since at least the 1980s, but now they're going bigger and making it automated.

One word I heard is how they're working toward an entirely cashless society, and if you say one word not to their liking or put one toe out of line they freeze your bank accounts and everything else you need to survive.

If they do that, I hope all the free minded people will form an "underground" where the things they control won't be necessary to survive.

[Zalatix]

52. Anyone who was shocked by this at Defcon, shouldn't have been at Defcon.

[Kablooie]

53. That's why I don't use the Internet.

I don't even have a computer.

...



Oh my god! What's happening to my nose!?

[upi402]

61. A hero

There are many like him.

[Marrah_G]

67. The President has really dropped the ball when it comes to this stuff

He should have put an end to it immediately.