three major telecoms give your phone call info to NSA

I do love how the NSA issue has been framed as being a campaign point for the Republicans, as in the "most Americans want more to be done to stop terrorists." I have to wonder if that's still true when the public learns that the NSA isn't tapping Arab-Americans calling the Middle East but rather tracking Ma and Pa calling their grandchildren in Arkansas? Plus, since when do polls trump, uh, the Constitution?

x-post: the issue isn't as much that they are doing this (which IS a valid point mind you) but that the NSA is doing this without warrants and without any oversight whatsoever. If we learned anything in civics class it's that democracy doesn't work when you have the power structure doing things without the public's permission or express authority.

It has no auxiliary power source. Once a squirrel chewed through the insulation on one of the mains, combusted himself and shut down the entire thing for a day.

meanwhile, "We're not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans" blah blah blah

Isn't disaster recovery, like, a totally basic IT concept?

Isn't disaster recovery, like, a totally basical IT concept?

IIRC a lot of heads rolled after 9/11 because there was a failure to prep for this level of catastrophe.

Not in the government. The private sector.

Also, all of you who ever called a drug dealer are on a list now.
The same list that his mom is on. Who fucking cares.

If you're already arrested, is there any provision stopping them from doing so?

It's like no one ever learned anything after Eisenhower's military-industrial complex speech.

As a QWEST customer, I say "thanks, you damn crook."

Dear A. K---,

Thank you for contacting the Verizon eCenter. My name is Esther, and I will be
handling your request today.

This message is in response to your email dated May 11, 2006. You commented
about Verizon release phone records to the NSA. We understand how important
this concern is to you. I will be happy to assist you.

We appreciate that the USA Today article and other reports about the possibility
that the NSA is able to analyze local call data records is causing concern.
Please be assured that Verizon places the highest value on protecting the
privacy of our customers.

Anything to do with the NSA is of course highly classified, so we can not
comment on whether or not the news article causing concern is even accurate. But
we can say that, to the extent that we cooperate with government authorities, we
are confident that we are complying with all applicable statutes. We appreciate
the continuing opportunity to provide you with service.

Thank you for using Verizon. We appreciate your business.

Sincerely,
Esther
Verizon eCenter

My response follows:

Hello,

I would like you to take the time to read the following in regards to your betrayal of your customers by giving our phone records to the NSA. You may be in some deep legal trouble.

1. It violates the Stored Communications Act. The Stored Communications Act, Section 2703(c), provides exactly five exceptions that would permit a phone company to disclose to the government the list of calls to or from a subscriber: (i) a warrant; (ii) a court order; (iii) the customer’s consent; (iv) for telemarketing enforcement; or (v) by “administrative subpoena.” The first four clearly don’t apply. As for administrative subpoenas, where a government agency asks for records without court approval, there is a simple answer – the NSA has no administrative subpoena authority, and it is the NSA that reportedly got the phone records.

2. The penalty for violating the Stored Communications Act is $1000 per individual violation. Section 2707 of the Stored Communications Act gives a private right of action to any telephone customer “aggrieved by any violation.” If the phone company acted with a “knowing or intentional state of mind,” then the customer wins actual harm, attorney’s fees, and “in no case shall a person entitled to recover receive less than the sum of $1,000.”

(The phone companies might say they didn’t “know” they were violating the law. But USA Today reports that Qwest’s lawyers knew about the legal risks, which are bright and clear in the statute book.)

3. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act doesn’t get the telcos off the hook. According to USA Today, the NSA did not go to the FISA court to get a court order. And Qwest is quoted as saying that the Attorney General would not certify that the request was lawful under FISA. So FISA provides no defense for the phone companies, either.

Thank you for your time. I await your response.

Andrew K---

and that's what's going to make the difference here. when it was just the nsa and the administration getting beaten up, they could take it, because they're true believers. but the phone companies aren't true believers and probably had lots of questions about the whole thing from the start, and now that they're looking at the potential of massive fallout they're going to crumple like paper.

I am also clueless and stumped as to why 65% of americans don't mind the NSA spying on them.

age old "well _I_ don't have anything to hide" thing, innit?

im getting tired of people being apathetic.

Oh yeah, absolutely--I find the possibility that Nachos and Co. objected on Constitutional principles more than improbable, it was ust CYA. But resolute CYA.

yesterday's edition of Radio Open Source covered much of this very well, incl. the apparent lack of response. The panel had Patrick Radden Keefe(lawyer/author), Ryan Singel(dude from Wired), Glenn Greenwald(lefty blogger/author).

oh yeah, and some nerd named William Gibson.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/04/30/bush_challenges_hundreds_of_laws/

ok I finally got it: CALEA

FCC Adopts Order in CALEA Broadband Access and Services Proceeding

The FCC has adopted a Second Report and Order in the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) and Broadband Access Services proceeding. The Order affirms that: (1) the May 14, 2007 deadline for CALEA compliance applies to all Broadband Internet Access providers and Voice over Internet Protocol providers; (2) the FCC will not preempt the standard setting organizations absent the filing of a Petition of Deficiency; (3) carriers may use the “trusted third party” approach to comply with CALEA; (4) Extensions under Section 107(c) apply only to equipment, facilities, or services installed prior to October 25, 1998; (5) the FCC may take separate enforcement action against carriers for their failure to comply with CALEA; and (6) carriers are responsible for CALEA related compliance costs for post-1995 equipment, facilities, and services.

I guess this just came down, inclusion of broadband is the big buzz.

The FBI is stupid, the NSA is stupid, and the CIA is about to be forced into obsolescence because they aren't stupid and that makes the president angry.

Shitwads.

whatever the point is where the phrase "police state" stops being paranoid hysteria, we're closer than i ever thought i'd see. what's interesting (and instructive, if not surprising) is how many people seem to think it's all ok.

The N.S.A.’s top-secret budget in 2013 for the AT&T partnership was more than twice that of the next-largest such program, according to the documents. The company installed surveillance equipment in at least 17 of its Internet hubs on American soil, far more than its similarly sized competitor, Verizon. And its engineers were the first to try out new surveillance technologies invented by the eavesdropping agency.

One document reminds N.S.A. officials to be polite when visiting AT&T facilities, noting, “This is a partnership, not a contractual relationship.”....

AT&T began turning over emails and phone calls “within days” after the warrantless surveillance began in October 2001, the report indicated. By contrast, the other company did not start until February 2002, the draft report said....

In 2011, AT&T began handing over 1.1 billion domestic cellphone calling records a day to the N.S.A. after “a push to get this flow operational prior to the 10th anniversary of 9/11,” according to an internal agency newsletter. This revelation is striking because after Mr. Snowden disclosed the program of collecting the records of Americans’ phone calls, intelligence officials told reporters that, for technical reasons, it consisted mostly of landline phone records.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/us/politics/att-helped-nsa-spy-on-an-array-of-internet-traffic.html

Ugh