When
I first saw a headline about a man named Snowden revealing classified NSA
information about surveillance, I was concerned and intrigued. When I found out
what the information was that had
been revealed, the NSA is data mining on a massive scale, I realized that this
is information I was aware of before the big news break… so nothing new.
From
reading most of The Guardian articles regarding the NSA, I have compiled a list
of information revealed by Snowden:
1. Metadata
collection (Verizon, other major online companies)
2. Prism
(data-mining program) Email and Chat
3. Boundless
Informant Indexing Program
4. UK
involvement in information collection
5. Foreign
and domestic espionage
So,
we didn't know about the names of Prism and Boundless Informant, and we didn't have any direct proof that the United States was freely exercising its
technological abilities to invade privacy, but we did know that it was possible,
probably happening on a large scale, and technically legal. Why?
According to the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act (1978, amended 2008): “(1) AUTHORITY—With respect to an
acquisition authorized under subsection (a), the Attorney General and the
Director of National Intelligence may direct, in writing, an electronic
communication service provider to—
Immediately provide the Government
with all information, facilities, or assistance necessary to accomplish the
acquisition in a manner that will protect the secrecy of the acquisition and
produce a minimum of interference with the services that such electronic
communication services that such electronic communication service provider is
providing to the target of the acquisition.”
Also-
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (1978, amended 2008) states:
“(d)
EMERGENCY AUTHORIZATION.—(1) AUTHORITY FOR EMERGENCY
AUTHORIZATION.—Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act, if the
Attorney General reasonably determines that—
(A)
An emergency situation exists with
respect to the acquisition of foreign intelligence information for which an
order may be obtained under subsection (c) before an order authorizing such
acquisition can with due diligence be obtained […]”
I
read FISA for a debate in my Senior Seminar class regarding civil liberties in
relation to the war on terror. It’s all right there. I salute Snowden because
before he came out with all of this information on what the United States
Government was doing, we as a people were not asking nearly enough questions
about what sort of power our government was amassing.
Now,
how does the US government get away with what it has been doing with minimum
policing? Because the FISA court is the only court that reviews the legality of
the United States’ actions regarding electronic surveillance, and it can be
surpassed in an “emergency” as proven above. I remember from reading FISA that
there were very few definitions as to what defined an “emergency” or in what
situations our government may or may not request consumer information from an
electronic service provider.
"The
Americans justify everything with combatting terrorism," said the
Luxembourg foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, who on Sunday described the latest
allegations as disgusting. "The EU and its diplomats are not
terrorists." http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/01/nsa-spying-allegations-germany-us-france
Combating terrorism does not justify our increased infringement upon the privacy of
others, ourselves and foreign countries included. More guidelines should be put
in place to protect the privacy rights of the world, as well as to prevent any
international and public relations nightmares such as this.
This
is our fault too, everyday citizens of America. We’re the true watchdogs of our
government. I think we all, myself included, need to do a better job checking up on what our government does.
Bean
out.
I am sitting in the Munich airport waiting impatiently for my three hour delayed plane when I remember I have your blog to catch up on. What a delightful, biting, beany read. I like the political commentary, the research, and the random bus stories. Have you posted your blog on vegan sites? Keep writing, Ms D
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