U.S. intelligence mining data from nine U.S. Internet companies in broad secret program

People are really surprised by this? I guess I just assumed this was pretty commonly known.

This kind of thing has been going on for decades with various kinds of communications. First, under the FBI, under names like Carnivore and Echelon, and then the NSA once it absorbed the role of communications monitoring.

Even with access to the data, however, it isn't like they see all. Only a very, very, very small percentage of communications are flagged for perusal by actual humans, usually only after running through various software programs looking for keywords, patterns, and other factors. They simply don't have the manpower or time required to actually go through it all any other way, and even then, it is highly doubtful everything is run through the programs even for first filtering. It's just too much data....

Just what did you think they were monitoring when they talk about "chatter"?

Originally posted by Indigo5
In case it hasn't been posted yet..

June 6, 2013

DNI Statement on Activities Authorized Under Section 702 of FISA

The Guardian and The Washington Post articles refer to collection of communications pursuant to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. They contain numerous inaccuracies.

Section 702 is a provision of FISA that is designed to facilitate the acquisition of foreign intelligence information concerning non-U.S. persons located outside the United States. It cannot be used to intentionally target any U.S. citizen, any other U.S. person, or anyone located within the United States.

Activities authorized by Section 702 are subject to oversight by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the Executive Branch, and Congress. They involve extensive procedures, specifically approved by the court, to ensure that only non-U.S. persons outside the U.S. are targeted, and that minimize the acquisition, retention and dissemination of incidentally acquired information about U.S. persons.

Section 702 was recently reauthorized by Congress after extensive hearings and debate.

Information collected under this program is among the most important and valuable foreign intelligence information we collect, and is used to protect our nation from a wide variety of threats.

The unauthorized disclosure of information about this important and entirely legal program is reprehensible and risks important protections for the security of Americans.


James R. Clapper, Director of National Intelligence

www.dni.gov...

I have trouble believing this.

C'Mon guys...I think what we will find, perhaps down the track aways, is that all this was done to bring us a better shopping experience.

Not really a big deal, unless you have long conversations with known terrorists.

Originally posted by Cruff
reply to post by IAMTAT

 

I wonder if this pairs up with the recent findings that the Facebook app was draining power on iphones constantly even when it wasn't running. I think I may have even read it on here somewhere. Wouldn't surprise me if it was constantly uploading data back to big brother.

Probably so...

I cancelled my Facebook account a few years ago (and trust me, they don't 'allow' you to go very easily). I immediately saw what Facebook was all about.

reply to post by Phantom28804


Yes, you are quite right. It is a globalist agenda. Were current POTUS to buck the agenda of the Globalists he'd be outed fast. I doubt he personally has much to do with the Executive Orders he signs.

reply to post by ButterCookie

Nothing wrong with all of us reducing our silicon footprint a little.

reply to post by soundguy


Maybe some Republicans woke up after conservative groups were targeted using the tax arm of enforcement.

Originally posted by Gazrok
..............Even with access to the data, however, it isn't like they see all. Only a very, very, very small percentage of communications are flagged for perusal by actual humans,.....

That's the scary bit.....Once your personality type has been profiled by an algorithm, your life will be effected without even being considered by an actual "human being"

reply to post by UKMinarchist


That's just it though...unless YOU meet the parameters of what they are looking for, they'll skip right by YOU, and never really build a complete profile for YOU. The whole point is to filter down to what analysts need to sift through. It's in their best interests NOT to worry about the majority of folks...but to hone in on ONLY those persons deemed dangerous.

reply to post by Rocker2013

Sorry, I'm just not buying this BS. I am well aware that the president has whole teams of people working below him and that he couldn't possibly oversee everything, but civil liberties and and state invasion of privacy is something he campaigned on,

And besides, Valerie Jarrett is really the "decider" in this admin.

Originally posted by joesomebody
After reading around, I discovered an article with a reader email from the below link, which suggests to have found the company behind PRSIM, Palantir. It apparently has a product called prism, and it happens to have all of it's documentation out on the internet, along with some code samples here and there.
]

Thats a big claim. Grabbing a company off the web and saying they are PRISM.

That said. I actually really like their platform. Quite clever.

If you are looking for the financial side of this spying I can give you two names.

Digital Risk, LLC the company that George Zimmerman worked for.

Mela Capital Group a sister company.

Here is a article from the sister company of Digital Risk, LLC. Which shows some of the details of what the FBI and I guess the Treasury do with such companies.

Cindi Dixon, CEO of Mela Capital Group, a mortgage quality control risk management firm, says the most common frauds continue to be income and employment misrepresentation and occupancy fraud — where there is deception about whether a home is owner-occupied or an investment property.

However, over the last 12 to 18 months, she’s also seen trends in mortgage fraud emerge. They include land-title lien fraud, which involves liens that are recorded fraudulently on properties and illegal transfers of ownership, and organized crime fraud, which involves organized fraud rings purchasing properties under straw-buyers names and using the homes for crimes like drug and human trafficking and credit card manufacturing. False identity use to purchase a home is also growing, she said.

Dixon thinks many of the frauds are driven by the market conditions.

"With economic downturns people struggle to maintain current income levels. This leads to new and creative ways of supplementing income and exploiting the system for profit," she said.

www.cnbc.com...

These risk management firms do not look for risk in the market place. They work with the government to spot criminal activity and then do a complete investigation and targeting of individuals. They are not there to approve your applications.

There are many things that concern me regarding the NSA data mining everything of ours on the internet, and on our phones. We're told by the President that it's all very tightly controlled, and that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court must approve any invasion of privacy on a case by case basis.

The presiding judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court, Reggie Walton, recently came out and said they didn't rubber stamp approvals. Of course, this brings about something many people are suspicious of. Who are these "judges" on the FISA court, and how do the people of America know that they are acting to uphold the Constitution? Furthermore, how do we know that the FISA court is even made aware of every surveillance op conducted prior to action? They make it sound like the court gives them a special one-time-only use key that doesn't allow them to spy when and where they choose. We are told that the FISA court is in control of these operations, and that they limit what can be done and what data can be seized, but we're never given proof of any of it. We just have to take their word that they are doing right by us, and no, they aren't offering any proof. It's hard to trust them when Russell Tice, a former NSA analyst called the FISA court, "A kangaroo court with a rubber stamp."

To make matters even worse, the major companies people get their phone access, internet access, and social networking, are all accomplices in the revealed PRISM articles. That means if you bought a Mac and an iPhone and are using them to interact with people in the US and around the world, you're likely being spied on by the NSA. After all, Apple hired David Rice from the NSA as their Security head. Sounds similar to the Monsanto & FDA connection. Just how secure is your device? How secure is your computer? How secure are you when more of what you used to call personal is stored "in the cloud" and accessible to snooping without the NSA ever having to be on your computer at all?

Janet Napolitano has said before that she doesn't even have an email account because she knew them to be unsecured and used the computer very rarely. Maybe she was hinting that snail mail is more secure than sending anything over the internet.

I've heard many people stating rather pompously that "Only the bad guys have anything to fear." The truth is very different. Every single one of us has done something "wrong". Some of us are better at doing "wrong" things than others, but let me assure you that if someone really searched deep and long enough, they could find dirt on every single one of us. We're all just hoping that no one ever goes to those lengths to find those skeletons in our closets. The NSA is basically making it known that they are doing precisely that. Your communications, your browsing histories, your phone calls, your credit card & debit transactions, and anything else electronic in nature that can be traced back to you can be compiled and used against you.

We're seeing that the IRS targeted specific groups because they disagreed with them. Some people stood up and said, "That's great. They ought to get those guys." I would remind everyone that the groups targeted today are not necessarily the groups targeted tomorrow. Just how sure are you that those crosshairs won't turn your way?

This is everyone's issue. Our need for privacy stems from the fact that we are all imperfect people. Everyone has something to hide. No one is immune. The NSA is only growing in strength. I can find no positive ending to this while the NSA is allowed to spy on us all. Returning to snail mail might be one way we can have some privacy.

Originally posted by Rocker2013

Originally posted by jhn7537
We (the US) overreacted to 9/11 and we gave our Govt. WAY TOO MUCH POWER. It was only a matter of time till the NSA, CIA, FBI, etc. began exploiting the Patriot Act.

This is what makes me wonder about what happened behind the scenes on 9/11. I have definitely considered the likelihood that there was a coup taking place, and the attacks were a cover for it.

The question is, did the coup succeed?

Are the new guys in power behind the scenes, or still the old guard?

Originally posted by zazzafrazz

Originally posted by joesomebody
After reading around, I discovered an article with a reader email from the below link, which suggests to have found the company behind PRSIM, Palantir. It apparently has a product called prism, and it happens to have all of it's documentation out on the internet, along with some code samples here and there.
]

Thats a big claim. Grabbing a company off the web and saying they are PRISM.

That said. I actually really like their platform. Quite clever.

edit on 7-6-2013 by zazzafrazz because: (no reason given)

Did you read their wiki page? They're quite obviously part of this if you look at their two product offerings and the history of their dealings with governments, and HBGary over wikileaks.

Originally posted by IAMTAT
reply to post by ButterCookie

 

Nothing wrong with all of us reducing our silicon footprint a little.

All we have to do, is get off the highways that have been built for us to travel on, and make our own roads.

The internet highways have official toll-booths, the giant routers that direct traffic, and it is in passing through these nodes that messages get intercepted and recorded.

Now there's amateur radio, and an alternative communication system for digital content called "packet radio", people can start to use that channel to communicate and put their own encryption algorithms in so that even if they intercept, and record, they can't see what's in the messages.

Eventually, we'll all go this route.

Messages can hop anonymously from PC to PC, over packet radio, and they will never know who sent what or is receiving it, and with secure encryption they wouldn't even know what the content is all about, so no keywords to hook messages and identify traffic to watch. They get nothing.

If you try to control people, the people will react by setting up their own defense.

I mean, we put on clothes because people like to watch, and we'd like to keep our private parts private. If they invent X-ray spectacles, then we have to put on metal clothes.

reply to post by bpg131313


Well here is one of the Judges for you. And he even jailed a reporter for not releasing her confidential source.

en.wikipedia.org...

And here is a second one.

en.wikipedia.org...

Here is the one who was mixed up with defending BP.

en.wikipedia.org...

Here is one who has been around this terrorism and Congress as far back as 1995. She will be out 5/18/2015.

en.wikipedia.org...

Here is one who defended Chinese espionage before he got to be a FISA court judge. How does that qualify you?

en.wikipedia.org...

Here is the one who forced Verizon to give up data.

en.wikipedia.org...

Here is the one who sentenced Scooter Libby.

en.wikipedia.org...

The one that was involved with the Clinton investigations.

en.wikipedia.org...

The one who was judge for Blagovich.

en.wikipedia.org...

I missed a couple I think.

Bates and Vinson end soon or already have.

Originally posted by GrantedBail
Sorry, I duped you. I was constructing my op and didn't catch yours. Sorry I have alerted on myself.

well don't just sit there typing! go get some tissues, or something!

the game comes down to the last few moves. all longsince predictable.
msm (silent on 9/11 conspiracy, sandyhoax etc.) are
disclosing these 'shockers' under strict instructions.
none are still to be trusted (yet?).

i read somewhere recently that the chinese now own the vast majority
of western media outlets. can anyone confirm?

(excellent news if true imo!)

I've known this for a while, I think I heard this story from my room-mate, he was working on wiring a building over on the East Coast and had to fix an internet connection that went into a room that was off-limits.

So, he eventually got let into the room where he found a bunch of people on computers who were monitoring the internet in real-time by tapping into the huge data stream that was going through the connection.