PRISM and Stellar Wind Programs

[nadinbrzezinski]

A top-secret arm of the controversial Stellar Wind program set up in the wake of 9/11 is allowing the National Security Agency and the FBI to tap directly into the central servers of nine major Internet companies to extract audio, video, photos, emails and documents that let analysts track an individual's communication, CBS News has learned.

The program, called PRISM, was established in 2007, according to The Washington Post, which broke the story Thursday evening. CBS News senior correspondent John Miller said it doesn't deal with names but was designed as a way for the government to track suspected terrorists. It culls metadata from Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube and Apple and will soon include Dropbox.

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2013/6/7/42840/79770/civilliberties/PRISM-and-Stellar-Wind-Programs

Yeah we know the leaker is worst than hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot combined. Now that the two minute of hate have been taken care off...can we deal with this? Can we actually focus on what is really going on?

Next word you should research, and defend I s'pose by deflection...is Tempora.

[geek tragedy]

1. This is the same shoddy reporting that got debunked weeks ago re:

being able to access the servers directly.

[ProSense]

3. Rehash:

Glenn Greenwald's 'Epic Botch'?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023012813

Remember whistleblower Thomas Tamm?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023032225

[sabrina 1]

8. Remember Drake, remember Binney?

Sitting in a restaurant not far from NSA headquarters, the place where he spent nearly 40 years of his life, Binney held his thumb and forefinger close together. “We are, like, that far from a turnkey totalitarian state,” he says.

Greenwald, targeted for a smear campaign by HB Gary, campaign put on hold after Anonymous exposure of their Government Contract Proposals, which included a 'smear campaign against blogger, Glenn Greenwald'. I wonder why that would be worth money, and to whom?

And I wonder who got the contract in the end. Because someone did obviously.

The quote was from Binney, btw the man who probably knows more about this than almost anyone else.

[ProSense]

17. Yes,

"Remember Drake, remember Binney?"

...I remember Binney.

NSA veteran: "So he is transitioning from whistle-blower to a traitor."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023035550

[sabrina 1]

27. Huh?? I asked if you remembered BINNEY. This is all you remember of Binney? Then let me help you:

Since you are using Binney as a source to back you up, I assume you have respect for his opinions.

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

The former NSA official held his thumb and forefinger close together: “We are that far from a turnkey totalitarian state.”

Binney

But there's so much more, not just from Binney, but since you have such confidence in his opinions I will limit the information we have been provided with to just him, for now:

Binney left the NSA in late 2001, shortly after the agency launched its warrantless-wiretapping program. “They violated the Constitution setting it up,” he says bluntly. “But they didn’t care. They were going to do it anyway, and they were going to crucify anyone who stood in the way. When they started violating the Constitution, I couldn’t stay.” Binney says Stellar Wind was far larger than has been publicly disclosed and included not just eavesdropping on domestic phone calls but the inspection of domestic email. At the outset the program recorded 320 million calls a day, he says, which represented about 73 to 80 percent of the total volume of the agency’s worldwide intercepts. The haul only grew from there. According to Binney—who has maintained close contact with agency employees until a few years ago—the taps in the secret rooms dotting the country are actually powered by highly sophisticated software programs that conduct “deep packet inspection,” examining Internet traffic as it passes through the 10-gigabit-per-second cables at the speed of light.

'This close to a turnkey totalitarian state!! Considering he's so highly respected and knows so much about it and was so frightened for his country, he was honorable enough to quit rather than participate in these crimes against the people, AND to risk his own career and reputation to warn the American people, I find what he has to say chilling, and certainly way more important than the personality traits of bloggers and whistle blowers.

[sabrina 1]

4. Are you familiar with Talk Left by any chance?

I love to see you always at the top of the comment section with your in depth analysis of these issues.

[geek tragedy]

5. Yes, I know both Jeralyn and Armando.

She's quoting the shoddy WaPo piece that misinterpreted the PRISM slides Snowden leaked.

[sabrina 1]

11. Lol, do they know you? Eg, have you posted your opinion directly to Jeralyn?

Would you like me to do it for you? I would be interested in her response, she's pretty informed and generally does excellent research on this matters. Let us know what she has to say if you do post there.

[geek tragedy]

15. That is a weeks old blog post quoting CBS/WaPo

If you had bothered reading closely you would not that she's quoting what they say. Ergo, not a reflection of her credibliity at all to say that the stories she quoted turned out to be incorrect.

[KittyWampus]

9. Regardless, all one has to do is check the their links and it goes to an old, debunked news article.

PRISM does not give the NSA direct access to central servers.

Now you can argue that the NSA does get direct access and that they cull actual emails… that would involve a secret program where they tap into undersea cables.

[ProSense]

13. Talk Left

is a huge pro-Hillary Clinton site.

Is Hillary Really Done With Politics?
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2012/1/27/1046/51134/hillaryclinton/Is-Hillary-Really-Done-With-Politics-

ABC Poll: 57% Support Hillary 2016
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2012/12/5/1126/23745/otherpolitics/ABC-Poll-57-Support-Hillary-2016

Hillary's Latest Endorsement: Joseph Wilson
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2007/7/16/144037/357/hillaryclinton/Hillary-s-Latest-Endorsement-Joseph-Wilson

[sabrina 1]

19. And, was this article about Hillary Clinton? Why is that relevant to the fact that our government

has been acting illegally for over a dozen years now, and that shamefully, nothing has been done so far, to stop this out-of-control destruction of the very foundation of what makes this country a democracy.

[idwiyo]

2. K&R

[KittyWampus]

6. This is old, misleading/inaccurate news. From the article we learn that "direct access" in regards

to PRISM is not what many have made it mean…. because Greenwald is an idiot and either didn't fact check or deliberately lied.

From the same article:

"We have never heard of PRISM. We do not provide any government agency with direct access to our servers, and any government agency requesting customer data must get a court order," a company spokesperson said in a statement.

NSA's Verizon records collection: "Calm down," Reid says
Report: Feds getting phone records of all Verizon customers
Google and Facebook also denied providing direct access to their servers and said they disclose user data only after careful scrutiny and in accordance with the law.

"We do not provide any government organization with direct access to Facebook servers," said a Facebook spokesperson. "When Facebook is asked for data or information about specific individuals, we carefully scrutinize any such request for compliance with all applicable laws and provide information only to the extent required by la

[DCBob]

7. This is sooooooo last week.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Can we talk Tempora? It is not last week.

Violation of the fourth are not so last week.

You are not going to ignore...even when you try hard. So I suggest you put me on ignore. Because I am going to keep sticking that fracking amendment

[DCBob]

12. Sure.. its delicious!

BTW, I never put anyone on ignore. I like to keep track of all opinions.. no matter how bizarre and irrational.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. In your case your crazy defense

Of clear violations of US law could be seen as irrational. Or just deeply partisan. True believers are not just stuck in the Republican Party. I used to think that...now, thanks to you guys, idiot racy is truly here.

By the way good luck with those of us who put country above party and the constitution above DC machinations.

Oh and yes, power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

[snooper2]

22. They watch us through our TVs

You lost the last 14.2% of credibility with that statement-

[sabrina 1]

21. So what's your opinion of this vast Surveillance structure we are living under?

[DCBob]

23. Its necessary.

[nadinbrzezinski]

28. Why is it necessary to track American citizens?

By the way German and Russian citizens said the same, especially party members.

[DCBob]

32. Why is it not necessary?

[nadinbrzezinski]

33. It is sad this has to be asked

Why not?

AMENDMENT IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

[DCBob]

35. Surely you see the legitimate conflicting issues of personal rights and national security?

maybe not.

[nadinbrzezinski]

36. Well you surely recognize how fear of the state

Can mean people will modify behavior. The AP investigation violated the Fourth, it also violated the first.

You go argue with AP President Pruitt on the already chilling of effect.

http://www.ap.org/

Is this the society you want to live in? Because what you are defending is Soviet Russia, or the Stasi...(those you are familiar with) or a slew of other totalitarian states...on steroids.

That is what you are defending.

When these regimes fell, it was hard on partisans. I recommend you start heading the lessons of history. Evil, as Arendt noted, is banal, and easy.

[DCBob]

37. "Soviet Russia, or the Stasi"??

good grief.

[nadinbrzezinski]

38. Yes, and your answer bellow to Sabrina was a classic

Of those two...

I am sorry to say this. You are acclimating to a police state. I offer my congratulations.

[DCBob]

39. thank you.

[nadinbrzezinski]

40. I am not sure you comprehend exactly

What your mind is doing.

Suffice it to say...we are done on this thread...I don't expect you to fight this.

[sabrina 1]

30. 'They are angry at us for our freedoms'. So your way to end terrorism is to do the job for them?

We voluntarily give up our freedoms and rights, their goal is accomplished, end of story and we can all go back to living in peace and security, minus all of our rights of course, but it's a small price to pay??

Got it!

How terribly sad, when tested all the hyperbole of 'we will fight for our freedoms' goes down the drain and we choose not to fight at all.

I should say 'you' choose not to fight. But our elected officials are charged with something this country deems more important than anything else, so they don't have the luxury you have to just throw away our rights for any reason.

They take an oath which requires only thing of them, 'to defend and protect the Constitution of the US against all enemies, both foreign and domestic'. Why do they take that oath, do you think? Why is that considered the most important thing for an elected official to swear to do? Nothing else is included in their oath?

And, btw, why is it 'necessary' as you stated, to 'live in a surveillance state'??

[DCBob]

34. I dont agree we "live in a surveillance state".

We have privacy as long as we don't do things that trigger red flags.

[liberal_at_heart]

24. I've never heard of it. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. I will definitely look it up.

Some of us care about righting wrongs whether the news is new or old. If it is wrong, we should talk about it and we should fight to change it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. Here

http://www.informationweek.com/security/privacy/germany-criticizes-uk-project-tempora-cy/240157371

It is a nice back door to the US traffic and to European traffic.

[Cleita]

16. Good advice Nadin.

We need to focus on the abuses perpetrated by the spy agencies instead of worrying about the subject of their latest witch hunt.

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. Some of us have...I like his saga as inspiration for fiction

But likely at the end of this...none of us will know where the footnote will end...and this person will disappear, to be replaced by a fully made up persona. People who go into exile, many a times go into that kind of limbo.

(Yes have been keeping notes for fiction, apart of the national security file, with all these programs)

[Cleita]

20. It will make a good international spy thriller once you get all the details and

you know how the story ends.

[Whisp]

25. unrec a wreck of a post. n/t

[HappyMe]

29. I make a delicious tempura.

[sabrina 1]

31. rec'd already for sticking to the issues rather than attempting to deflect from them.