NSA Spying

Another Obama Lie: The Secret FISA Court Admits it isn’t Capable of Oversight

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This program, by the way, is fully overseen not just by Congress, but by the FISA Court — a court specially put together to evaluate classified programs to make sure that the executive branch, or government generally, is not abusing them, and that it’s being carried out consistent with the Constitution and rule of law.

– President Barack Obama on June 7, 2013 (transcript here)

The leader of the secret court that is supposed to provide critical oversight of the government’s vast spying programs said that its ability to do so is limited and that it must trust the government to report when it improperly spies on Americans.

– Washington Post article: Court: Ability to police U.S. spying program limited

I originally used the very top quote in my piece a month ago titled: Meet the Secret Supreme Court of the United States. In it, I pointed out how entirely ridiculous it is for Obama to tell us to rest assured there is oversight on the NSA spying as a result of the FISA Court, a secret court with secret “classified” rulings. Well now we find out that it is even more ridiculous than that, as the leader of the secret court itself admits it is incapable of doing its job. So is Barack Obama just completely clueless, or is he a pathological liar? You know what I think. From the Washington Post:

The leader of the secret court that is supposed to provide critical oversight of the government’s vast spying programs said that its ability to do so is limited and that it must trust the government to report when it improperly spies on Americans.

“The FISC is forced to rely upon the accuracy of the information that is provided to the Court,” its chief, U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton, said in a written statement to The Washington Post. “The FISC does not have the capacity to investigate issues of noncompliance, and in that respect the FISC is in the same position as any other court when it comes to enforcing [government] compliance with its orders.”

The court’s description of its practical limitations contrasts with repeated assurances from the Obama administration and intelligence agency leaders that the court provides central checks and balances on the government’s broad spying efforts. They have said that Americans should feel comfortable that the secret intelligence court provides robust oversight of government surveillance and protects their privacy from rogue intrusions.

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Video of the Day: “Operation Everyone Talk Like a Terrorist”

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The folks at Funny or Die have come up with an ingenuous solution to render the NSA’s spy program useless. Operation: Everyone Talk Like a Terrorist All the Time. It makes a lot of sense, especially since the government already clearly considers everyone with the ability to think critically a potential “domestic terrorist.” Short video … Read more

Another One Bites the Dust: Silent Circle Shuts Down Encrypted Email Service

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There are some very high profile people on Silent Circle—and I mean very targeted people—as well as heads of state, human rights groups, reporters, special operations units from many countries. We wanted to be proactive because we knew USG would come after us due to the sheer amount of people who use us—let alone the “highly targeted high profile people.” So to protect everyone and to drive them to use the other three peer to peer products- we made the decision to do this before men on [SIC] suits show up. Now—they are completely shut down—nothing they can get from us or try and force from us- we literally have nothing anywhere.

– Michael Janke, CEO of Silent Circle

The recent big news in the tech world was that Lavabit, the encrypted email service used by Edward Snowden to communicate, was forced to shutdown by the U.S. government. In typical American gulag fashion, Lavabit was not permitted to tell the world about their six week battle with the “authorities” and the specifics related to the shutdown. While some of you may take this development negatively, I would argue it is all just part of the natural process of system change outlined by Gandhi, a master of the process. He said:

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

We are merely in the fight phase. This is thanks to the Edward Snowden leaks, which made the “ignore and ridicule” phase no longer possible. It’s becoming increasingly obvious which side is winning, which is why the establishment is showing such desperation. Even back in June, polls showed that Edward Snowden was far more popular than both Barack Obama and Congress.

More on the Silent Circle drama from ArsTechnica:

Less than 24 hours after Lavabit shuttered its doors, another US firm is shutting down its encrypted e-mail service.

Silent Circle, a company that specializes in encrypted communications, said it is preemptively turning off its Silent Mail product. It’s doing so despite no urging at all from the government—no subpoenas, warrants, security letters, or anything else, company co-founder Jon Callas wrote in a blog post today. “We see the writing on the wall, and we have decided that it is best for us to shut down Silent Mail now.”

Company CEO Michael Janke told TechCrunch that given his user base, he knew the government was going to come after them sooner or later:

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Meet Two of the Biggest Hypocrites in Congress

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Back in 2005, Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois) was up in arms about the reauthorization of the Patriot Act. So much so that she issued a press release to highlight her opposition within the House of Representatives. In it she stated:

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky, Chief Deputy Whip, delivered a statement in the House of Representatives urging her colleagues to vote against the reauthorization of the Patriot Act.  Representative Schakowsky has continually fought to limit the expansive new powers the Patriot Act grants federal agencies such as allowing them to secretly search personal records, including medical and library records, and permitting law enforcement officers to install roving wiretaps without specifying a suspect or telephone.

“Mr. Speaker, I voted against the PATRIOT Act four years ago and I remain opposed to it.  While I support a number of the tools the PATRIOT Act grants to law enforcement in the fight to combat terrorism, it went too far in eroding important civil liberties, limiting the right to due process, and unnecessarily targeting immigrants.” 

“The Constitution that I carry is not a Republican document, it’s not a Democratic document, it’s an American document that we want to preserve.  The PATRIOT Act is an affront to our civil rights and civil liberties, as guaranteed by our Constitution.”

Oh yeah, you tell ’em sister! Interesting language, because it seems pretty obvious that you see things entirely in partisan terms. While you voted against the Patriot Act in 2001, it has now become abundantly clear that you would have voted in favor of it with a smile if your lord and savior Barack Obama had been in office at the time. Just like you voted NO on the Amash amendment yesterday. I haven’t seen a statement from your office on that vote yet, but I look forward to it.

Representative Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) was equally outraged back in 2005 over the Patriot Act. He also issued a statement at the time. Here are some choice excerpts:

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Montana Passes Sweeping Anti-Government Spying Bill

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What is so interesting about Montana’s House Bill 603, which passed overwhelmingly the state Senate by a 96-4 margin, is that it was passed in April, or several months before Edward Snowden’s NSA revelations. Talk about some foresight. Hopefully, we will see many more such bills sweep across the nation, as “change” will have to be done at the local level. The central government in D.C. is hopelessly corrupt and I don’t see that changing. We must just decentralize away from the District of Criminals on our own. From the Atlantic Wire:

Privacy advocates, behold the Montana legislature and House Bill 603, a measure that requires the government to obtain a probable cause warrant before spying on you through your cell phone or laptop. HB 603 was signed into law this past spring, effectively making Montana the first state to have an anti-spy law long before anyone heard of Edward Snowden. To be clear, HB 603 passed the state Senate overwhelmingly by a vote of 96-4 in April and was signed into law on May 6.

At the time, the law might have seemed extraneous, or even paranoid. But knowing what we know now, the law seems prophetic. The law is pretty straightforward—the government can’t spy on Montanans through their electronic devices unless they obtain a warrant:

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Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak Discusses The Constitution, NSA Spying and Torture

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When I was brought up we were taught that Communist Russia were the ones that were going to kill us, bomb our country and all this.  That Communist Russia was so bad because they followed their people, they snooped on them, they arrested them, put them in secret prisons…they disappeared them. These sorts of things … Read more