The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.
The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans ? most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.
"It's the largest database ever assembled in the world," said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA's activities, declined to be identified by name or affiliation. The agency's goal is "to create a database of every call ever made" within the nation's borders, this person added.
For the customers of these companies, it means that the government has detailed records of calls they made ? across town or across the country ? to family members, co-workers, business contacts and others...
In defending the previously disclosed program, Bush insisted that the NSA was focused exclusively on international calls. "In other words," Bush explained, "one end of the communication must be outside the United States."
As a result, domestic call records ? those of calls that originate and terminate within U.S. borders ? were believed to be private.
Sources, however, say that is not the case. With access to records of billions of domestic calls, the NSA has gained a secret window into the communications habits of millions of Americans. Customers' names, street addresses and other personal information are not being handed over as part of NSA's domestic program, the sources said. But the phone numbers the NSA collects can easily be cross-checked with other databases to obtain that information.
Originally posted by: Meuge
Ehh... We can all migrate to encrypted VOIP.
Originally posted by: NFS4
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa-qna_x.htm
Here we go again folks!! This should open up a new can of worms in Washington over the whole wire tapping issue. As if Bush needed more bad news...
Topic Title: NSA secretly collecting phone records of tens of millions of citizens and businesses with help of phone companies
Topic Summary: Just came across the wires. AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth are helping the gov
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Originally posted by: NFS4
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa-qna_x.htm
Here we go again folks!! This should open up a new can of worms in Washington over the whole wire tapping issue. As if Bush needed more bad news...
Topic Title: NSA secretly collecting phone records of tens of millions of citizens and businesses with help of phone companies
Topic Summary: Just came across the wires. AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth are helping the gov
This is old news but appreciate your stop over here in P&N.
I have a couple of threads on this and I've actually installed the equipment making all this possible. Infact the ones screaming encrypted VOIP, hahahaha. Your streams are intercepted anyway.
Originally posted by: MadRat
TIA (Total Information Awareness) is alive and well.
The President's Authorization Only Covers International Communications In Which One Party Is Suspected Of Links To Al Qaeda Or Related Terrorist Organizations.
"One End Of Any Call Targeted Under This Program Is Always Outside The United States."
Originally posted by: strummer
No President in history deserved to be impeached more than George W Bush deserves to be impeached. The Watergate break ins were about spying on politcal rivals (and of course the cover up), here and now we have Bush spying on regular Americans without probable cause. Bush is using the Constituion as toilet paper.
What an absolute moron. All you Bush fans out there need to read the 4th Amendment to the Constitution to see what it says about this kind of stuff.
Originally posted by: bamacre
When did this begin?
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa-qna_x.htmQ: When did this start?
A: After the Sept. 11 attacks.
Originally posted by: Rainsford
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Originally posted by: NFS4
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa-qna_x.htm
Here we go again folks!! This should open up a new can of worms in Washington over the whole wire tapping issue. As if Bush needed more bad news...
Topic Title: NSA secretly collecting phone records of tens of millions of citizens and businesses with help of phone companies
Topic Summary: Just came across the wires. AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth are helping the gov
This is old news but appreciate your stop over here in P&N.
I have a couple of threads on this and I've actually installed the equipment making all this possible. Infact the ones screaming encrypted VOIP, hahahaha. Your streams are intercepted anyway.
Intercepted and READ are two different things
And I seriously doubt you've installed anything more complicated than the coke machine at the local Taco Bell, you just seem too ignorant of the security aspects of the communication sector to really be involved in this kind of thing. You don't seem to understand the law, or the technology. Now maybe it's some kind of trick to throw us all off track, but why even bring it up in the first place...?
"In an interview, however, a Vonage representative said the VOIP provider had never received a request from a police agency to do a live voice interception, though the company has been served with subpoenas for stored customer information. "We have been subpoenaed, I believe, several times for call records and call data," Vonage's Brooke Schulz said. "We've responded to those subpoenas very, very quickly. Because of the way our service is set up, we have all this data on hand, and it's very easy to do."
Schulz said if Vonage were to receive a proper request to perform a live voice interception, it would be trivial to comply with, because all the company's VOIP calls flow through central servers. "We are able to copy the data stream and send it in tandem to another location," Schulz said. "You can essentially send it to the law enforcement agency you need to send it to, as long as they have the proper equipment and the proper interconnect."
Because Vonage's network already is accessible to police armed with a legal wiretap order, Schulz said she was mystified by the FBI's proposal to the FCC. "We really don't know where it's coming from," she said."