It is time to end this program. There is vast amount of personal information being gathered and it has no basis in priority of national security. This is a whole lot more than metadata.
Published time: September 28, 2013 16:56
Edited time: September 28, 2013 19:14
The US National Security Agency (click here) has been exploiting US citizens' personal information drawn from its large collection of metadata to create complex graphs of social connections for foreign intelligence purposes, the latest Snowden leaks have revealed.
Documents obtained by the New York Times from the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden say that the practice has been going on since November 2010, after restrictions prohibiting the agency from working with US citizens’ data were “lifted” by NSA officials.
The NSA was then authorized to conduct “large-scale graph analysis on very large sets of communications metadata without having to check foreignness” of the e-mail addresses, phone numbers or any other identifiers, the documents reportedly said.
The policy shift was intended to help the agency “discover and track” connections between intelligence targets overseas and people in the US, a January 2011 NSA memorandum cited in the documents explained.
According to the report, the agency has been allowed to “enrich” their communications data with materials obtained from public, commercial and other sources while preparing the graphs. Such sources reportedly include Facebook profiles, bank codes, insurance information, passenger manifests, voter registration rolls and GPS location information, as well as property records and unspecified tax data....
...The NSA has denied it abuses its practice of vast data collection, which includes the private information of the US citizens, with the agency’s spokeswoman saying that “all of NSA’s work has a foreign intelligence purpose” and that “all data queries must include a foreign intelligence justification.”...
There are existing laws requiring the reporting of suspected and/or actual criminal activity.
31 USC Chapter 53, Subchapter II (click here)
RECORDS AND REPORTS ON MONETARY INSTRUMENTS TRANSACTIONS
It is the purpose of this subchapter (except section 5315) to require certain reports or records where they have a high degree of usefulness in criminal, tax, or regulatory investigations or proceedings, or in the conduct of intelligence or counterintelligence activities, including analysis, to protect against international terrorism.
Realizing what the attacks of September 11, 2013 did to the US Stock Exchange, I can't imagine anyone involved with banking or markets withholding suspicious information to track down international criminal networks willing to do severe damage to them.
...As a result of the Patriot Act, (click here) persons who are or are required to be registered as futures commission merchants (FCMs), introducing brokers (IBs), commodity pool operators (CPOs), and commodity trading advisors (CTAs) are or may become subject to requirements for establishing AML programs, reporting suspicious activity, verifying the identity of customers, and applying enhanced due diligence to certain types of accounts involving foreign persons....
The reason this is going on is because the program is not turning up enough results to justify it in the face of citizen invasion of privacy. This is desperate acts of autocrats who say things like, "...but, we get results, the REAL problem is we don't have all the available data to make it work the way it needs to...."
...public, commercial and other sources while preparing the graphs. Such sources reportedly include Facebook profiles, bank codes, insurance information, passenger manifests, voter registration rolls and GPS location information, as well as property records and unspecified tax data....
This is far more than metadata. These same autocrats will victimize people if after having all the data they state they need and still aren't performing to a standard which justifies this level of information gathering. They will enforce their own purpose. They are creating profiles of people to find the most 'susceptible' citizens to 'fall victim' to carry out heinous acts. That is victimization as any one person with supposed characteristics because there are never guarantees anyone will act in predictable ways.
This is very dangerous and if the NSA is applying this information to foreign peoples then we are really in trouble. People of other nations have far different priorities, life styles and values then Americans and are even more unpredictable.
This is a waste of money, time and causes more danger to our society than it prevents.
Published time: September 28, 2013 16:56
Edited time: September 28, 2013 19:14
The US National Security Agency (click here) has been exploiting US citizens' personal information drawn from its large collection of metadata to create complex graphs of social connections for foreign intelligence purposes, the latest Snowden leaks have revealed.
Documents obtained by the New York Times from the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden say that the practice has been going on since November 2010, after restrictions prohibiting the agency from working with US citizens’ data were “lifted” by NSA officials.
The NSA was then authorized to conduct “large-scale graph analysis on very large sets of communications metadata without having to check foreignness” of the e-mail addresses, phone numbers or any other identifiers, the documents reportedly said.
The policy shift was intended to help the agency “discover and track” connections between intelligence targets overseas and people in the US, a January 2011 NSA memorandum cited in the documents explained.
According to the report, the agency has been allowed to “enrich” their communications data with materials obtained from public, commercial and other sources while preparing the graphs. Such sources reportedly include Facebook profiles, bank codes, insurance information, passenger manifests, voter registration rolls and GPS location information, as well as property records and unspecified tax data....
...The NSA has denied it abuses its practice of vast data collection, which includes the private information of the US citizens, with the agency’s spokeswoman saying that “all of NSA’s work has a foreign intelligence purpose” and that “all data queries must include a foreign intelligence justification.”...
There are existing laws requiring the reporting of suspected and/or actual criminal activity.
31 USC Chapter 53, Subchapter II (click here)
RECORDS AND REPORTS ON MONETARY INSTRUMENTS TRANSACTIONS
It is the purpose of this subchapter (except section 5315) to require certain reports or records where they have a high degree of usefulness in criminal, tax, or regulatory investigations or proceedings, or in the conduct of intelligence or counterintelligence activities, including analysis, to protect against international terrorism.
Realizing what the attacks of September 11, 2013 did to the US Stock Exchange, I can't imagine anyone involved with banking or markets withholding suspicious information to track down international criminal networks willing to do severe damage to them.
...As a result of the Patriot Act, (click here) persons who are or are required to be registered as futures commission merchants (FCMs), introducing brokers (IBs), commodity pool operators (CPOs), and commodity trading advisors (CTAs) are or may become subject to requirements for establishing AML programs, reporting suspicious activity, verifying the identity of customers, and applying enhanced due diligence to certain types of accounts involving foreign persons....
The reason this is going on is because the program is not turning up enough results to justify it in the face of citizen invasion of privacy. This is desperate acts of autocrats who say things like, "...but, we get results, the REAL problem is we don't have all the available data to make it work the way it needs to...."
...public, commercial and other sources while preparing the graphs. Such sources reportedly include Facebook profiles, bank codes, insurance information, passenger manifests, voter registration rolls and GPS location information, as well as property records and unspecified tax data....
This is far more than metadata. These same autocrats will victimize people if after having all the data they state they need and still aren't performing to a standard which justifies this level of information gathering. They will enforce their own purpose. They are creating profiles of people to find the most 'susceptible' citizens to 'fall victim' to carry out heinous acts. That is victimization as any one person with supposed characteristics because there are never guarantees anyone will act in predictable ways.
This is very dangerous and if the NSA is applying this information to foreign peoples then we are really in trouble. People of other nations have far different priorities, life styles and values then Americans and are even more unpredictable.
This is a waste of money, time and causes more danger to our society than it prevents.
