Connecting The Dots… LIARS!

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So…. The good folks in Washington DC are trying to defend the revelation that the Government has been data mining Verizon communications.  Here’s their defense:

Responding to the disclosure, Senator Dianne Feinstein of California and Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia said on Thursday that the order appeared to be a routine reauthorization as part of a broader program that lawmakers have long known about.

“As far as I know, this is an exact three-month renewal of what has been the case for the past seven years,” said Ms. Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee. It was carried out by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court “under the business records section of the Patriot Act,” she said. “Therefore, it is lawful. It has been briefed to Congress.”

The program appears to warehouse and analyze calling “metadata” — time and number logs showing when communications have been made, but not their content or the name of any subscriber — that the government analyzes to try to identify terrorists. Mr. Chambliss, the intelligence panel’s top Republican, said that under the rules of the program, when a computer program flags a number as suspicious, the authorities return to the national security court for permission to scrutinize that person more closely.

It’s metadata only and it’s what we call minimized,” Mr. Chambliss said. “All of these numbers are basically ferreted out by a computer, but if there’s a number that matches a terrorist number that has been dialed by a U.S. number or dialed from a terrorist to a U.S. number, then that may be flagged. And they may or may not seek a court order to go further on that particular instance. But that’s the only time that this information is ever used in any kind of substantive way.”

Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, told reporters on Thursday that he did not have a problem with the surveillance program because it was imperative in the war on terror.

“If we don’t do it,” Mr. Graham said, “we’re crazy.”

Representative Mike Rogers, Republican of Michigan and the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a news conference Thursday that the National Security Agency program helped stop a significant domestic terrorist attack in the United States in the last few years. He did not give more information on the possible nature of the attack.

Mr. Rogers (I’m so mad right now, that doesn’t even make me smile a little) show us some proof that this is indeed true.

In another report, Feinstein indicates there have been multiple foiled attacks:

Sen. Dianne Feinstein did not specify how many attempted attacks had been prevented, or the nature of the threats, but the California Democrat said there had been more than one.

OK. So which is it? IS it “one”, or is it “many”, or does this require another interesting “it all depends on what the definition of ‘is’ is” moment?
I noted that Sxby Chambliss says this:

It’s metadata only and it’s what we call minimized,” Mr. Chambliss said. “All of these numbers are basically ferreted out by a computer, but if there’s a number that matches a terrorist number that has been dialed by a U.S. number or dialed from a terrorist to a U.S. number, then that may be flagged. And they may or may not seek a court order to go further on that particular instance. But that’s the only time that this information is ever used in any kind of substantive way.”

Well, except that isn’t the only data you guys are collecting, is it? In a separate story that just broke:

The National Security Agency has obtained direct access to the systems of Google, Facebook, Apple and other US internet giants, according to a top secret document obtained by the Guardian.

The NSA access is part of a previously undisclosed program called PRISM, which allows officials to collect material including search history, the content of emails, file transfers and live chats, the document says.

Oops!

Chambliss, you are a liar. They are NOT just collecting “metadata”… They are going for the whole shebang!

I ask you, how difficult is it for the Government to connect the Verizon (AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint) phone number of customer X to all of that persons ENTIRE internet activities?

Not very.

And this can all be done in secret because idiot politician like Chambliss and Feinstein supported, and continue to support, the Patriot Act, which as we all now see, gave the US Government open and complete access to virtually ALL our online activities! And remember, the agencies are now encouraged to share intel with each other.

How did we go from “They might spy on your library records” to this in just one decade?

The former USSR and Stalin would be proud!

PS. Oh… And just think of what they’ll do next now that their precious PRISM program failed to pick up the Boston Marathon plot!

And it can and will be done in secret, because the Patriot Act gives them the cover to do so!