AMU Homeland Security

NSA Receiving Millions of “On Going” Verizon Phone Records

Brett Daniel Shehadey
Special Contributor for In Homeland Security

According to the Guardian Newspaper, it obtained a leaked copy of a FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) Court order to Verizon that they provide private phone records to the NSA from April 25 to July 19. FISA was intended to suspend privacy on suspected criminals when enough evidence was presented to the judges for review and the arrant given if a national security threat presented itself. Moreover, it was not meant to be a blanket license of hundreds let alone millions but case-by-case individual or small network basis.

Domestic spying is nothing new. The arguments have always been security versus privacy. In this day and age: terrorism versus privacy. Most people are missing the point that domestic spying is becoming aggressively forwarded into the legal code and court system in the US.

In the past, the US government illegally spied on the American people. Cases of abuses that are discovered abound but the ones that were not discovered have also been leaked, if not prosecuted.

Why is this a big deal? American society is changing. Americans are less worried about extending the limits of domestic spying by their government if the age-old argument is pushed—of course, it’s for your own protection.

The FBI wants to see your social media activity. Why should that be private? In fact, your emails under the Stored Communications Act, which have been on the server for 180 days or less, opened or downloaded, are automatically fair game and have been de-privatized. Stored data on a server is no longer considered mail by the US government and therefore not protected by the Fourth Amendment.

Professionals know that terrorists tend to use low tech now in their operations for this very reason. If even the threat of exposure is there—and they tend to be even bigger conspiracy theorist than Americans with wild ideas—other methods and tactics in communication will be employed.

Whether international or domestic terrorists, or even criminals, they will likely not even use phones if they know the American eagle eyes are watching from the sky. On the other hand, you still have dumb terrorists and criminals, chiefly kids that are planning some mass violent event that will—and those amateurs can be nabbed before such a catastrophe. Also, the international terrorists and criminals in other countries which can be tagged and security threats can be neutralized before an attack or illicit act.

But when those parties do enter into the US they go into silent mode. They use old spy trade skills in spite of the fact that they are not spies at all—Cold War tradecraft is well known.

The temptation to ever increase our defenses is a natural one, but it must be based on reason and not fear. It is also important to remember why we have protections against our own government—authorities tend to get lazier and more abusive if they have access to real-time personal data on everyone. Moreover, they do not seem to be putting a dent into Chinese, French or Israeli espionage.

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