NSA spying scandal - the story so far. The real purpose is political blackmail NOT counter terror [View all]

[TakeALeftTurn]

Edward Snowden presents hard evidence of the extent and scope of the NSA's Mass Surveillance.
It is reported in the Guardian on June 6th.
Little that is new is revealed by Snowden in this and subsequent articles, except that the NSA's mass internet data collection program is called Prism.
Every potential terrorist and just about every foreign government knew that the NSA was spying on EVERY American and millions more around the world.
Lots of other people knew too.

Glenn Greenwald's first and subsequent articles report that the NSA is indiscriminately collecting phone call data and massive amounts of internet activity on EVERY American.

The only thing that is new is that the world (and Congress) sits up and takes notice.
The scandal causes major embarrassment to members of the US government.

Predictably the US government and the US media try to attack the messenger not the message.
They fail and the scandal grows as more and more people sit up and take notice.

Previous NSA whistle blowers, William Binney, Thomas Drake and J Kirk Wiebe are completely vindicated. They confirm what Snowden is saying.

James Clapper and Dianne Feinstein are caught lying big time.
Clapper's perjury under oath to Congress carries a maximum sentence of 5 years in jail.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022990011

The NSA Director, General Keith Alexander, is caught lying under oath to Congress 14 times by Hank Johnson.
Each count of perjury carries a maximum sentence of 5 years - 70 years in total.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022998300

James Bamford's previous article on the NSA's massive data center, just completed in Utah, is used by Hank Johnson as evidence.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022998690

The reason the Utah data center is so massive and has the capacity to store the entire contents of the internet thousands of times over is obvious.
It is required to store massive amounts of surveillance data on EVERY American and millions more around the world.

Amy Goodman's article, from 2012, that the NSA has gone rogue is completely vindicated.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/apr/26/how-national-security-agency-gone-rogue

The NSA's justification for their Mass Surveillance activities are completely discredited.
They can cite ZERO examples where a terror plot could not of been foiled without the Patriot Act by obtaining a warrant after finding probable cause.

And they do not need to carry out mass surveillance in order to thwart terrorist plots.
The Dirty Little Secret About Mass Surveillance: It Doesn’t Keep Us Safe
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/06/the-dirty-little-secret-about-nsa-spying-it-doesnt-work.html

The Zazi New York subway case is completely discredited by Obama himself.
It could easily have been thwarted after obtaining a WARRANT after finding PROBABLE CAUSE.
http://www.fair.org/blog/2013/06/18/spinning-surveillance-via-discredited-nsa-talking-points/

No, NSA Spying Did NOT Prevent a Terror Attack on Wall Street
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/06/no-nsa-spying-did-not-prevent-a-terror-attack-on-wall-street.html

We Have the Technological Ability to Keep Americans Safe WITHOUT Spying On Everyone
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/06/we-have-the-technological-ability-to-keep-americans-safe-without-spying-on-everyone.html

Alan Grayson clearly spells out the NSA's Mass Surveillance programs to the American people and to Congress.
He is determined to put a stop to it.

It is revealed that the NSA is getting around the "legal limitations" on spying on millions of Americans via the Five Eyes program with the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
They spy on each other's citizens and swap data.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023007431

The NSA is caught telling 11 lies and 1 truth at a Congressional "hearing" on 18th June.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023045242

Obama is lying when he says that the CONTENTS of phone calls are not being collected - they are.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023052659

It is revealed that GCHQ is tapping into the world's major fiber optic cables to bulk collect internet and phone data on just about everone in the world.
They then pass this information on for the NSA to store at their facility in Utah.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jun/21/gchq-cables-secret-world-communications-nsa

People are very slowly starting to wake up as to the true purpose and implications of the NSA Mass Surveillance programs.
GCHQ revelations: mastery of the internet will mean mastery of everyone | Guardian
http://gu.com/p/3gn8z/tw

The NSA's Mass Surveillance programs are NOT counter terrorism measures for which they are extremely ineffective.
See Boston which was a massive intelligence failure and should of been stopped.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023028453

The true purpose of the NSA's Mass Surveillance programs are to blackmail and intimidate in order to suppress political dissent and to control those in government or political rivals.
When someone upsets the government in some way they will become a "a person of interest", their existing surveillance file (they have one on everyone) will be looked up to see what the NSA has on them.

The scope of the NSA's data collection :-

ALL phone records, including Meta data giving location.
The contents of ALL phone calls
ALL Emails
ALL texts
ALL voicemails
ALL SKYPE conversations
Large amounts of social media activity
ALL internet searches
ALL internet sites visited
Large amounts of electronic financial transactions - bank accounts and purchases etc.

Some of the political enemies, dissidents or rivals that are to be targeted as "persons of interest"

Occupy protesters
Leading climate change protesters
Keystone pipeline protesters

Anti Monsanto organizers
Tea Party activists
Gun rights activists
Troublesome journalists (there are not many of those these days, the vast majority of mainstream journalists are lapdogs for the Establishment)
National politicians - members of Congress
Federal judges
State politicians
Leaders of State Parties
Critics of the NSA
Vocal critics of government policies
Top military personnel
Top government officials
Business people

Lawyers
Civil rights activists

etc. etc.

There are now something like 800,000 people on government watch lists.
Probably at least half of them have nothing whatsoever to do with Islamic Extremism or Terrorism.
They are people the government DOESN'T LIKE and wants to CONTROL.

Bombshell: Former. Intelligence Agent confirms that the NSA is spying on a broad range of top politicians and officials, including Obama himself in 2006 and that Obama is Lying.
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/bombshell-fmr-intelligence-agent-accuses-nsa-obama-of-lying-alleges-broader-spying-programs/
http://news.firedoglake.com/2013/06/21/former-intelligence-analyst-obama-was-wiretapped-by-nsa-in-2004/

Clear Evidence That Corporate America Wants the Government to Treat Protesters as 'Terrorists' | Alternet
http://www.alternet.org/corporate-accountability-and-workplace/corporations-think-protesters-are-terrorists

All the Infrastructure a Tyrant would need, courtesy of Bush, Obama and Congress
We are one step away from a turnkey authoritarian Police State
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022975266

The government is LYING to you on a GRAND SCALE
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023031425

The real threat from the NSA's Mass Surveillance programs - the existential threat to democracy itself in America
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023056122

Appendices

The catalog of information on the NSA's Mass Surveillance programs plus recent relevant articles since Snowden's information was first reported.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022962685

America's international relations with their allies are already being adversely affected around the world as the information on what the NSA is doing gets out.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023062204

Over one million people have already signed the international petition to grant Snowden immunity from prosecution and to stop Prism immediately.
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/stop_prism_global/?wZumrcb

The White House petition to "Pardon Edward Snowden" has now reached it's target of 100,000 in order to force (a dismissive) response from Obama.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/pardon-edward-snowden/Dp03vGYD
Even more signatories would be helpful to make a stronger case.

Over 376,000 people have signed EFF's petition to "Stop Watching Us"
It has only been going about 4 days, most people don't know about it yet.
https://optin.stopwatching.us/

William Binney's previous revelations about the NSA's mass data collection programs
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022990788

AP's article on the history and extent of the NSA's Mass Surveillance programs
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/secret-prism-success-even-bigger-data-seizure

Your entire email account (and much else) is now in the hands of the government
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023052252