Spy Program Gathered Americans' Internet Records (Until 2011)
Last edited Thu Jun 27, 2013, 07:21 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: Associated Press
SPY PROGRAM GATHERED AMERICANS' INTERNET RECORDS
By KIMBERLY DOZIER and LOLITA C. BALDOR
Jun. 27 5:52 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) The Obama administration gathered U.S. citizens' Internet data until 2011, continuing a spying program started under President George W. Bush that revealed whom Americans exchanged emails with and the Internet Protocol address of their computer, documents disclosed Thursday show.
The National Security Agency ended the program that collected email logs and timing, but not content, in 2011 because it decided it didn't effectively stop terrorist plots, according to the NSA's director, Gen. Keith Alexander, who also heads the U.S. Cyber Command. He said all data was purged in 2011.
Britain's Guardian newspaper on Thursday released documents detailing the collection, though the program was also described earlier this month by The Washington Post.
The latest revelation follows previous leaks from ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who is presumed hiding at a Moscow airport transit area, waiting to hear whether Ecuador, Iceland or another country might grant him asylum. He fled Hong Kong over the weekend and flew to Russia after being charged with violating American espionage laws.
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/spy-program-gathered-americans-internet-records
GD: NSA Collected US Email Records In Bulk For More Than Two Years Under Obama (w/Documents) - Guardian" http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3110914
GD "How the NSA is still harvesting your online data": http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023110981
aquart
(69,014 posts)Gosh what a difference a headline makes.
Hissyspit
(45,788 posts)JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)on what you read in the article.
Obama needs to take some action. What a waste of money.
Th1onein
(8,514 posts)It is not illegal, here, for the Brits to collect our information, because we are "foreign" to them. And, it is not illegal, here, for the NSA to collect the Brits information, because it is "foreign" to them. So, they both collect the information and they simply trade it with each other. See how they made it all "legal" now? Feel better?
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)....so I guess not having a trial helps there.
Or are we supposed to just accept that absolutely NOBODY in the nation's missing persons records was scooped up?
formercia
(18,479 posts)It's about being able to co-opt you or otherwise make you compliant if the need arises.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Ian David
(69,059 posts)wtmusic
(39,166 posts)Phew! What a relief.
Ash_F
(5,861 posts)blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)struggle4progress
(118,566 posts)2011: NSA ends this particular program
2012: Snowden gives money to Ron Paul and does not vote for Obama
2013: Snowden becomes bitterly disappointed in Obama, who has dashed his hopes, begins to contact journalists
2013: Snowden seeks job at BAH in order to collect documents
2013: Snowden gets job, collects documents, leaves country
2013: Snowden exposes spy program that ended in 2011
Hissyspit
(45,788 posts)It is not clear how much of this collection concerns foreigners' online records and how much concerns those of Americans. Also unclear is the claimed legal authority for this collection.
Explaining that the five-year old program "began as a near-real-time metadata analyzer for a classic collection system", the SSO official noted: "In its five year history, numerous other systems from across the Agency have come to use ShellTrumpet's processing capabilities for performance monitoring" and other tasks, such as "direct email tip alerting."
Almost half of those trillion pieces of internet metadata were processed in 2012, the document detailed: "though it took five years to get to the one trillion mark, almost half of this volume was processed in this calendar year".
Another SSO entry, dated February 6, 2013, described ongoing plans to expand metadata collection. A joint surveillance collection operation with an unnamed partner agency yielded a new program "to query metadata" that was "turned on in the Fall 2012". Two others, called MoonLightPath and Spinneret, "are planned to be added by September 2013."