David Simon: We are shocked, shocked (NSA program)

[Bolo Boffin]

http://davidsimon.com/we-are-shocked-shocked/

You would think that the government was listening in to the secrets of 200 million Americans from the reaction and the hyperbole being tossed about. And you would think that rather than a legal court order which is an inevitable consequence of legislation that we drafted and passed, something illegal had been discovered to the government’s shame.

Nope. Nothing of the kind. Though apparently, the U.K.’s Guardian, which broke this faux-scandal, is unrelenting in its desire to scale the heights of self-congratulatory hyperbole. Consider this from Glenn Greenwald, the author of the piece: “What this court order does that makes it so striking is that it’s not directed at any individual…it’s collecting the phone records of every single customer of Verizon business and finding out every single call they’ve made…it’s indiscriminate and it’s sweeping.”

Having labored as a police reporter in the days before the Patriot Act, I can assure all there has always been a stage before the wiretap, a preliminary process involving the capture, retention and analysis of raw data. It has been so for decades now in this country. The only thing new here, from a legal standpoint, is the scale on which the FBI and NSA are apparently attempting to cull anti-terrorism leads from that data. But the legal and moral principles? Same old stuff.

Allow for a comparable example, dating to the early 1980s in a place called Baltimore, Maryland.

Excellent blog from a great writer.

[uponit7771]

1. Some on DU thought the Patriot Act Authorized Bake Sales and is NOW shocked that

...the collection of meta data, something that has been happening since 2006 is being done under Obama with proper oversight.

[jberryhill]

2. Calling data hasn't required a warrant since 1979, btw

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_v._Maryland

[Bolo Boffin]

3. Gee, does this blog not let you be mad at Obama anymore?

Whatever...

[Cha]

6. What blog? 'cause DU is

loaded with rage.

thanks for the David Simon article, Bolo

[sheshe2]

4. First and foremost, I love his page title~

Better yet, The Point he is making

When the government grabs every single fucking telephone call made from the United States over a period of months and years, it is not a prelude to monitoring anything in particular. Why not? Because that is tens of billions of phone calls and for the love of god, how many agents do you think the FBI has? How many computer-runs do you think the NSA can do? When the government asks for something, it is notable to wonder what they are seeking and for what purpose. When they ask for everything, it is not for specific snooping or violations of civil rights, but rather a data base that is being maintained as an investigative tool.

Thank you Bolo Boffin, David Simon is awesome!

[Cha]

5. Ah, here it is she, thank you! And, that goes right along

with a couple of my favorite paragraphs..

"The question is not should the resulting data exist. It does. And it forever will, to a greater and greater extent. And therefore, the present-day question can’t seriously be this: Should law enforcement in the legitimate pursuit of criminal activity pretend that such data does not exist. The question is more fundamental: Is government accessing the data for the legitimate public safety needs of the society, or are they accessing it in ways that abuse individual liberties and violate personal privacy — and in a manner that is unsupervised.

And to that, the Guardian and those who are wailing jeremiads about this pretend-discovery of
U.S. big data collection are noticeably silent. We don’t know of any actual abuse. No known illegal wiretaps, no indications of FISA-court approved intercepts of innocent Americans that occurred because weak probable cause was acceptable. Mark you, that stuff may be happening. As happens the case with all law enforcement capability, it will certainly happen at some point, if it hasn’t already. Any data asset that can be properly and legally invoked, can also be misused — particularly without careful oversight. But that of course has always been the case with electronic surveillance of any kind."

It's a neverending job debunking the Propaganda from the profiteering left and the gop.

[sheshe2]

7. And again,

to remind those people that are outraged, Cha.....

Again, we can have a vigorous debate as to whether the government should have this kind of far-reaching power. But here’s the secret many of the outraged seem to miss: living in the 21st century means that, basically, you have no privacy. Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Google all collect personal information, and sell it to their advertisers. All those ads targeted to you on Facebook and Google Mail are a result of data mining personal information on a far grander scale than this latest NSA record warrant. And all of it is done with nary a peep from the people now most incensed by Greenwald’s exposé.

http://theobamadiary.com/2013/06/06/intelligence-agency-conducts-intelligence-news-at-11/

[Cha]

9. Selective Outrage, She.. always ready to serve

steaming piles of it at President Obama.

[sheshe2]

8. K&R!

Again for exposure, Bolo Buffin!

[DevonRex]

10. If they only knew...

I find this whole situation fucking hilarious.