From somewhere on the web: …They know you rang a phone sex service at 2:24 am and spoke for 18 minutes. But they don’t know what you talked about. They know you called the suicide prevention hotline from the Golden Gate Bridge. But the topic of the call remains a secret. They know you spoke with an HIV testing service, then your doctor, then your health insurance company in the same hour. But they don’t know what was discussed. They know you received a call from the local NRA office while it was having a campaign against gun legislation, and then called your senators and congressional representatives immediately after. But the content of those calls remains safe from government intrusion. They know you called a gynecologist, spoke for a half hour, and then called the local Planned Parenthood’s number later that day. But nobody knows what you spoke about…
If they really need that stuff, then I would support a fully open database, say after a year's delay. But only government officials are categorically identified by IP/phone number. I was not upset at the NSA monitoring cross-border conversations/emails. This really bothers me. -XC
They're not supposed to "target" domestic traffic. Their means of "targeting" are very coarse, and if there's any restriction on what they can do with domestic traffic they got without "targeting" it, no one has mentioned it yet. Monitoring international traffic is part of the NSA's job, so while admittedly I don't think the NSA should exist at all, I also think that if it's going to, it should be constrained to only doing its job, and forbidden to keep or share with any other organization domestic traffic that wasn't "targeted". As it stands, there's been no mention of any rule against it collecting (but not "targeting") citizen's emails, and then passing anything interesting it finds along to the FBI.I was not upset at the NSA monitoring cross-border conversations/emails. This really bothers me.
And not to mention the FBI has extensive tapping/eavsdropping programs of it's own, which it could also share the other way with the NSA. All enforcement branches have their own massive data collection and mining programs with the intent of "snooping". Carnivore was one of the FBI's programs that made some headlines a few years ago. It's in the same vein as the NSA/PRISM outrage going on now, except there wasn't any outrage over it at the time really, it still made a lot of headlines. Carnivore, after it made headlines, had it's name changed and went further underground to difuse some of the negative press it was getting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivore_(software) Was later changed (or replaced with) to:passing anything interesting it finds along to the FBI.
I would like to point out none of this makes us any "safer"
I agree. It didn't stop 9/11, or Boston, or the 7/7 bombings in London. But the one quote that I always try to remember, from the West Wing, and I'm paraphrasing here. It was made by someone talking about the CIA and they said "The problem with our reputation is our successes are private, our failures are public." Again, I agree with you, but that quote (although from a TV show), kind of made me ponder the situation national security agencies are in a little deeper.
the problem with the CIA is that its failures are largely private as well. it is feedback free system with no accountability.
This was not well written. Should not have included a call to a phone sex line because no one can relate to that. Also HIV testing service? I mean sure they have those, but if you have an insurance company you'd probably just go through your doctor... Should be just the second two points. Maybe something that is more embarrassing but relatable...more bland "They know you've been calling your doctor multiple times over the course of a week, and then after the final call you started to call up numbers you haven't called in months or even years for short conversations" Edit: oh perhaps. "they know you haven't called your son in years".