Meet the New Boss, Similar to the Old Boss?

A major bone of contention between Democrats and Republicans during the last Bush Administration was what to do about NSA wire surveillance. Turns out that Barack Obama's Administration isn't doing better on this score. From Care2.com.

When he was just one of a hundred in the U.S. Senate, Barack Obama repeatedly stated that he would support a filibuster against any bill which would grant retroactive immunity to telecommunication companies for their involvement with Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) activities.

Once he won the Democratic primaries to become that party's nominee, however, Mr. Obama changed his tune, voting for an intelligence surveillance bill he had opposed just months earlier.

Of course, the bill he had opposed was a slightly different version, but those lawmakers he stood with before had not altered their position, despite any alterations to the bill itself.

Last week, the Obama Administration sought to dismiss the suit brought in Jewel v. NSA, wherein the plaintiff organization sought to discontinue government surveillance of the records and communications of AT&T customers.

In its motion to dismiss and for summary judgment, the Administration argues, in part, that the plaintiffs cannot establish standing requisite to go forward with the suit because they cannot access necessary information to prove such standing. This is so because the state claims that the information the plaintiffs would need is subject to executive privilege as "state secrets", pertinent to national security, and are excluded from
review.

Spies Like US: Publicizing Privacy

Ever since this cockamamie war on Terror has begun, our own government has been reaching out to corporations to feed them information to feed their national security supercomputers. Last year we found out that 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 (tons more from Truthdig).

Sen. Patrick Leahy said last January that at least 52 federal agencies use data-mining technologies and at least 199 data-mining programs are operating or planned throughout the government, including 14 within the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, and Health and Human Services. Those do not include programs run by the National Security Agency.

Data mining is a growth industry and bound to grow larger by the year. Americans who have been using credit cards or subscribing to magazines have been leaving a financial identity trail catalogued by database companies and then resold to the U.S. government. Federal and state governments pay about $50 million annually to comb through the databases of one such company, ChoicePoint, which compiles and sells personal information on U.S. residents gathered from sources such as motor vehicle and credit records, car and boat registrations, liens and deed transfers, and military records. There are many others.

People for the American Way says:

Data mining is not an issue only at the federal level. The Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange (MATRIX) is a pilot program currently underway in eight states – Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Utah. The MATRIX is designed to pull together sensitive state, local, and federal law enforcement data and intelligence, as well as information from other public databases such as motor vehicle and property records – including biometric identifying information like digital photographs – into a single system. Private databases that maintain information on individuals would also be included. In addition to being searchable by law enforcement, the MATRIX database could be used to automatically analyze these broad categories of information for “anomalous” or “suspicious” activities and patterns.

So here's my idea. Since our privacy is a matter of public record, maybe we need to find a friendly corporation that will protect our privacy. Basically for a fee, this company will search and purge or store all known data that is out there about us.

Of course, the first place the NSA will get a subpoena for will be this corporation. So, what we need is a sort of a witness protection plan that creates a false identity for us, so that our real information can't be tracked back to us.

Of course, this might raise suspicions and land us in Guantanamo as a enemy combatant.

Skeptical Judges Question Government NSA Claims

From the NY Times

Three federal appeals court judges hearing challenges to the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs appeared skeptical of and sometimes hostile to the Bush administration’s central argument Wednesday: that national security concerns require that the lawsuits be dismissed.

“Is it the government’s position that when our country is engaged in a war that the power of the executive when it comes to wiretapping is unchecked?” Judge Harry Pregerson asked a government lawyer. His tone was one of incredulity and frustration.

Gregory G. Garre, a deputy solicitor general representing the administration, replied that the courts had a role, though a limited one, in assessing the government’s assertion of the so-called state secrets privilege, which can require the dismissal of suits that could endanger national security. Judges, he said, must give executive branch determinations “utmost deference.”
“Litigating this action could result in exceptionally grave harm to the national security of the United States,” Mr. Garre said, referring to the assessment of intelligence officials.

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