Today's big news is that the US government has gotten a secret court order to force Verizon to turn over the phone records of all of its customers. Those records include what numbers were called, when they were called, and from what number they were called. It is an extraordinaty amount of information, but it will be easily managed by computer. Since the order was secretly issued by the FISA Court in Washington, we do not know if other phone carriers also received subpoenas or if it was limited to Verizon. The order requires Verizon to refrain from talking about or disclosing the existence of the order or its contents, so it is unlikely that other carriers would confirm or deny that they had received similar orders.
This is big stuff. It means that every person with a Verizon phone is now under surveillance by the feds. The way that this information would be used by the government is to follow the threads of a terrorist plot. Look, for example, at the Boston Marathon bombing which, given the dates of the start of this surveillance, may have beeen the reason given to the FISA Court for the practice. Let's say that Tamarlan Tsarnaev had a Verizon phone and that after the bombing he called thirty eight numbers in the period before he was caught. The feds could find those numbers from this data. They also could then find any other numbers that were called by the people at the other end of Tsarnaev's calls. They could also take that one step further and find anyone called by the second group of people. Then, by looking at which numbers got multiple calls and at the identity of the folks in each group, they could find likely suspects for a terrorist cell involved with Tsarnaev. (Of course, the Obama administration keeps telling us that Tsarnaev was a lone wolf, but that is another story.)
The problem with all this is that the surveillance covers everyone. If Tsarnaev and the Marathon bombing were the issue, the order could have Verizon turn over the phone records of the Tsarnaev brothers, anyone they called, and so forth. That might include a few thousand numbers by the time they got to the third or fourth calling group, but it would not include 20% of the United States. Indeed, the scope of this order is so immense, that it must have as its reason something much more than just following up on an event like the Marathon bombing.
The terrible part of this order is that all this information is going to the Federal government. The Obama government now has the phone records of all those conservative groups and individuals who were targeted by the IRS. That sounds like a good way to identify contributors. It now has the phone records of reporters for most major news organizations. That takes the AP escapade far beyond anything that even George Orwell could imagine. The feds also have the phone records of the Republican National Committee, thereby achieving from a remote location the same results that the Watergate break in got. Obama's government also now has the phone records of all Congressmen and Senators. Maybe the feds now know about that mistress or bookie that senator X or congressman Y speaks to on a regular basis.
We are supposed to believe that the feds under Obama will not do anything with the information except look for terrorists. We know, however, that this is just not true. We know that the feds misled a court to look through all sorts of records of James Rosen, and that was wrong. We know that the feds used the IRS to persecute conservative groups and individuals as well as religious groups whose beliefs required them to oppose certain policies of the Obama government. That too was very wrong. We know that on Benghazi, the Obama government blatantly lied to America and still will not explain what actually happened. WHY WOULD WE BELIEVE THAT THE OBAMA GOVERNMENT WOULD SUDDENLY DECIDE THAT IT HAD TO FOLLOW THE LAW?
It is hard to overstate the magnitude of this news. It means one of two things: 1) the feds have totally run amok and America under Obama is becoming a police state; or 2) there is a terrorist threat of such enormous magnitude underway right now that the FISA Court has allowed a monumental invasion of the privacy of all Americans in order to let the government fight to prevent it. Take your choice. Both are chilling.
This is big stuff. It means that every person with a Verizon phone is now under surveillance by the feds. The way that this information would be used by the government is to follow the threads of a terrorist plot. Look, for example, at the Boston Marathon bombing which, given the dates of the start of this surveillance, may have beeen the reason given to the FISA Court for the practice. Let's say that Tamarlan Tsarnaev had a Verizon phone and that after the bombing he called thirty eight numbers in the period before he was caught. The feds could find those numbers from this data. They also could then find any other numbers that were called by the people at the other end of Tsarnaev's calls. They could also take that one step further and find anyone called by the second group of people. Then, by looking at which numbers got multiple calls and at the identity of the folks in each group, they could find likely suspects for a terrorist cell involved with Tsarnaev. (Of course, the Obama administration keeps telling us that Tsarnaev was a lone wolf, but that is another story.)
The problem with all this is that the surveillance covers everyone. If Tsarnaev and the Marathon bombing were the issue, the order could have Verizon turn over the phone records of the Tsarnaev brothers, anyone they called, and so forth. That might include a few thousand numbers by the time they got to the third or fourth calling group, but it would not include 20% of the United States. Indeed, the scope of this order is so immense, that it must have as its reason something much more than just following up on an event like the Marathon bombing.
The terrible part of this order is that all this information is going to the Federal government. The Obama government now has the phone records of all those conservative groups and individuals who were targeted by the IRS. That sounds like a good way to identify contributors. It now has the phone records of reporters for most major news organizations. That takes the AP escapade far beyond anything that even George Orwell could imagine. The feds also have the phone records of the Republican National Committee, thereby achieving from a remote location the same results that the Watergate break in got. Obama's government also now has the phone records of all Congressmen and Senators. Maybe the feds now know about that mistress or bookie that senator X or congressman Y speaks to on a regular basis.
We are supposed to believe that the feds under Obama will not do anything with the information except look for terrorists. We know, however, that this is just not true. We know that the feds misled a court to look through all sorts of records of James Rosen, and that was wrong. We know that the feds used the IRS to persecute conservative groups and individuals as well as religious groups whose beliefs required them to oppose certain policies of the Obama government. That too was very wrong. We know that on Benghazi, the Obama government blatantly lied to America and still will not explain what actually happened. WHY WOULD WE BELIEVE THAT THE OBAMA GOVERNMENT WOULD SUDDENLY DECIDE THAT IT HAD TO FOLLOW THE LAW?
It is hard to overstate the magnitude of this news. It means one of two things: 1) the feds have totally run amok and America under Obama is becoming a police state; or 2) there is a terrorist threat of such enormous magnitude underway right now that the FISA Court has allowed a monumental invasion of the privacy of all Americans in order to let the government fight to prevent it. Take your choice. Both are chilling.
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