Report: Verizon providing all call records to U.S. under court order

bit of clarity in this New York Times article...

U.S. Is Secretly Collecting Records of Verizon Calls

...The order, signed by Judge Roger Vinson of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in April, directs a Verizon Communications subsidiary, Verizon Business Network Services, to turn over “on an ongoing daily basis” to the National Security Agency all call logs “between the United States and abroad” or “wholly within the United States, including local telephone calls.”

The order does not apply to the content of the communications.

Verizon Business Network Services is one of the nation’s largest telecommunications and Internet providers for corporations. It is not clear whether similar orders have gone to other parts of Verizon, like its residential or cellphone services, or to other telecommunications carriers. The order prohibits its recipient from discussing its existence, and representatives of both Verizon and AT&T declined to comment Wednesday evening...

doesn't make me feel any better, but thought I would share

Makes me sick how the world has progressed technologically & updates to the privacy laws & protections for your average citizen were conveniently forgotten

Internet - very little to no protection
Cell phone - very little to no protection

Which is probably about 90% of people's communication today...

Old tech:
Land line - needed a warrant to wire tap from a judge
Mail - required a warrant to search for evidence in most cases (which I'm pretty sure is no longer true)

Completely unacceptable...not sure what we can do about it at this point though unfortunately...must be something that can be done...

Originally posted by Cypress
reply to post by Zcustosmorum

 

unfortunately, its not that simple. From the article the government got a court order. Verizon had to comply and it could have been any company in the US that was targeted. Looks like they were using the "we're looking for terrorists" angle to go after leaks.

Well as MSM tells us, there's terrorists everywhere... apparently

I don't like this at all. The court order should have specified what businesses and/or lines. This is nothing but a fishing expedition.

I fear the precedent that this sets.

double post please delete

Originally posted by JacKatMtn

Report: Verizon providing all call records to U.S. under court order

www.washingtonpost.com

I thought this was common knowledge that has been going on since at least 2006 and even earlier, but I guess not?

An expert in this aspect of the law said Wednesday night that the order appears to be a routine renewal of a similar order first issued by the same court in 2006. The expert, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues, said that the order is reissued routinely every 90 days and that it is not related to any particular investigation by the FBI or any other agency.

The expert referred to such orders as “rubber stamps” sought by the telephone companies to protect themselves after the disclosure in 2005 that widespread warrantless wiretaps could leave them liable for damages.

The order falls under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which authorizes the government to make broad demands on telephone carriers for information about calls.

So it's nothing new, is it? Just a "routine renewal" as the article says.

And those who think switching away from Verizon might help, I don't think you will do any better with any major carrier. They were all asked to provide information and all but one did voluntarily, even without a court order. The holdout was Qwest, who even in 2001 thought this type of activity was illegal (it was):

www.wired.com...

Startling statements from former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio’s defense documents alleging the National Security Agency began building a massive call records database seven months before 9/11 aren’t the only accusations that the controversial program predated the attacks of 9/11.

According to court documents unveiled this week, former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio clearly wanted to argue in court that the NSA retaliated against his company after he turned down a NSA request on February 27, 2001 that he thought was illegal. Nacchio’s attorney issued a carefully worded statement in 2006, saying that Nacchio had turned down the NSA’s repeated requests for customer call records. The statement says that Nacchio was asked for the records in the fall of 2001, but doesn’t say he was “first asked” then.

And in May 2006, a lawsuit filed against Verizon for allegedly turning over call records to the NSA alleged that AT&T began building a spying facility for the NSA just days after President Bush was inaugurated. That lawsuit is one of 50 that were consolidated and moved to a San Francisco federal district court, where the suits sit in limbo waiting for the 9th Circuit Appeals court to decide whether the suits can proceed without endangering national security.

So the solution to this problem of illegal spying?

Just make it legal, and that's what congress eventually did. But before that the NSA apparently didn't care if it was legal or not, and it apparently started 7 months before 9/11.

Originally posted by MadDogtheHunter

Originally posted by JacKatMtn
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

Is the NSA data facility nearing completion? Portion ready for ops testing? That place was alleged to be a massive collection point... in Utah if I remember correctly..

The Data center in Utah opened today. (June 6th, 2013)

And yes, as one previous poster said, "Stick to prepaid". That is a fine and dandy idea....BUT....Prepaid services such as TracFone and Straight Talk piggy-back on the Verizon National Tower Networks. As far as them not needing your SSN....you still use your CC to buy airtime (if you buy it on their site). This will be a tricky one to get around.

Easy, buy a prepaid credit card with cash.

Having a Magic Jack does not seem so cheap now, does it!

Considering this was "top secret" with a gag order I know what will happen to this. Obama will claim it is top secret and not release anything. These days top secret is an alternate phrase for pleading the fifth.

Listen this is our country and supposedly ran by the people. Enough with all this top secret bull. I want a full accounting on my desk by noon tomorrow. What say you all here? We hired Obama and we can fire him! I have had just about had enough of him playing stupid moron. He darn well better squawk about everything now! Pronto!

Wow, the things we all talk about on the phone .. Secret stuff, private stuff between friends.
They will criminalize 90 percent of America. If you do something to rub them wrong, hey lets just search the phone records and see what we can dig up,.

They have the technology now for massive data storage in a very small space.

reply to post by amatrine

reply to post by JacKatMtn


Ok it looks like Reuters has obtained a copy of the order. Here it is in all its glory for those of you still with your blinders on. Look at this! This is sickening!

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that no person shall disclose to any other person that the FBIor NSA has sought or obtained tangible things under this Order, other than to: (a) those persons to whom disclosure is necessary to comply with such Order; (b) an attorney to obtain legal advice or assistance with respect to the production of things in response to the Order; or (c) other persons as permitted by the Director of the FBI or the Director's designee. A person to whom disclosure is made pursuant to (a), (b), or (c)

Verizon Court Order

I saw this on CNN of all places. Looks to me like the MSM is finally getting it just by the fact they are reporting it.
www.cnn.com...
Here we go folks.....god "dang" it. I'm not up to this .....

reply to post by missvicky


Yeah I know what you mean. This repeated scandal bull is wearing me down. But for some reason, this one was the icing on the cake for me. Obama is soo out of there! i don't care if he "knew" about this or not. He is either the most crooked president ever, or severely incompetent. Either way, he should not be president.

There is a special show on Fox about how Romney can help fix our economy. Look he isn't even president and wants to help. I say we let him. You do realized that he was dragged through the mud by Obama's evil tactics to look bad. Romney ain't perfect, but who is?

All Gore says Obama has gone too far.
He calls this outrageous.

Huffingto n Post

Originally posted by elouina
Listen this is our country and supposedly ran by the people. Enough with all this top secret bull. I want a full accounting on my desk by noon tomorrow. What say you all here?

I agree but the government says it would violate the privacy of Americans, if they actually revealed how much they have violated the privacy of Americans:

Why won’t the Obama administration reveal how many Americans’ emails the NSA has collected and reviewed without a warrant?

Since last year, a few members of Congress—led by Senator Ron Wyden—have been trying to get the Obama administration to answer a simple question: how many Americans’ phone calls or emails have been and are being collected and read without a warrant under the authority of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (FAA)?...

The government says that it would violate Americans’ privacy for the NSA’s inspector general to estimate how many Americans’ privacy have been violated by the NSA.

What???

Originally posted by supremecommander
People were warned years ago that everything that Bush was doing to destroy the constitution would be taken to the Nth degree by his successor. These people, who were manipulated by lies about arab terrorists coming to kill us all due to our freedoms, ignored these warnings, and looked at Bush as some type of hero until the bottom dropped out from under them in 2008.

Now here we are. Obama has taken the baton, and has run with it.

You better hope youre not using a Verizon wireless smartphone speaking out against your government like that.

Originally posted by butcherguy
All Gore says Obama has gone too far.
He calls this outrageous.

Huffingto n Post

Shocking! Al Gore and I agree on something...

Seriously though, isn't this just about the last straw? What more do evidence do American need that their Government is now absolutely, completely, corrupt and out of control.

...secret surveillance courts issuing secret blanket Court Orders to spy on all citizens.
...the IRS harassing people and organizations who have conservative political leanings (and who knows who else?)
...The "Department of Justice"...how ironic...bugging reporters and their families
...the very same DOJ supplying Mexican Drug Lords with weapons
...Dept. of Homeland Security (no civil war going on that I know of yet) buying more bullets than the U.S. Army
...people...old ladies, babies, anybody...routinely invasively searched by TSA staff
...people arrested for taking video of public servants (Police) at work

Barak Obama...the President of the Police States of America! Wow...

Originally posted by Alxandro
Geez almighty, is there no end to what Obama continues to do?
When will his peeps and followers finally realize what they have done?
Have we passed the point of no return?

Oh come on!

Where's the blame for all the groundwork done BEFORE Obama? What about all the Republicans and Democrats under him in all departments going along with all this?

You know what this will take? The people to act. Boycott, refuse, stop, do not comply. Passive resistance in the form of encouraging whistleblowers and boycotting corporations is the only peaceful way to change things.

You need to free Manning, support him and send the message to all whistleblowers that they will be protected and not vilified. You need people on the inside able to release this information to the public and show people what is really happening. Then you need to act on it, and force corporations to stop. If Verizon is supplying this information then you need to leave them, go with another. That will force the corporations to put up more of a fight.

I can almost hear the empty echos of verizon telephones exchanges all over the USA..as millions of their former customers, the people who put money in their pockets and food on their tables, leaving Verizon far behind them.

Leave them for the competition, and if the competition betrays your right to privacy and trust, leave them too.

You DO have a choice, and you don't have to put up with this crap...unless you like living in a goldfish bowl of course.