| Submit your comments on this article |
| Government |
| A thumbs-up for NSA Internet spying on foreigners |
| 2014-07-03 |
| [Washington Post] Endorsement of the NSA's Internet surveillance programs by a bipartisan privacy board deeply disappointed civil liberties activists Wednesday while providing a measure of vindication for beleaguered U.S. intelligence officials. James Clapper, director of national intelligence, welcomed the conclusion by the independent Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board that the National Security Agency's Internet spying on foreign targets in the U.S. has been legal, effective and subject to rigorous oversight to protect the rights of Americans. Activist groups panned the report as a dud. It was a dizzying turnabout for a privacy board that in January drew criticism in the other direction for branding the NSA's collection of domestic calling records unconstitutional. As they unanimously adopted their 190-page report on Wednesday, the five board members — all appointed by President Barack Obama I've now been in 57 states -- I think one left to go... —sought to explain their largely favorable conclusions about surveillance programs that have provoked worldwide outrage since former NSA systems administrator Edward Snowden revealed them last year. At issue is a spying regime, first definitively disclosed in Snowden documents last year, under which the NSA is using court orders to obtain foreign customers' emails, chats, videos and texts from Google ...contributed $814,540 to the 2008 Obama campaign... , Facebook and other U.S. tech companies under a program known as PRISM. The documents also showed that the agency is intercepting foreign data as it transits fiber optic lines in the U.S. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #7 Spano, I didn't say that I would like it if our allies spied on us. However, I expect that they will try. I hope that the NSA and other agencies can prevent them being successful. I assume that they are trying. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2014-07-03 23:54 |
| #6 They don't? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2014-07-03 22:56 |
| #5 "Spying on other countries - even current allies - is NSA's JOB, dammit. Get used to it." So you wouldn't have a problem with allies spying on US citizens, right?? |
| Posted by: spano bellingbo3665 2014-07-03 22:52 |
| #4 I never worked for the NSA, although I know a few people who did. I think they've been abused about as much as the IRS has -- some of it willingly, some of it not. The problem today is that our enemies hide among our friends as much as they live in their own nations. I don't know the NSA's collection strategy, but I doubt they worry much about Rantburg. I think the IRS spies on us more, and Obamacare gives them far more power -- and leeway -- to spy on us all. That's just one more reason to rescind the entire mess. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2014-07-03 13:45 |
| #3 Unfortunately, they consider 'foreigners' like the Muslims consider 'apostates', as in these days incorporating the Tea Party, real conservatives,...posters at the Rant. Hi, there NSA! |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2014-07-03 10:41 |
| #2 James Clapper, director of national intelligence, welcomed the conclusion... James would no doubt "welcome" any conclusion, so long as it isn't his. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-07-03 10:15 |
| #1 Spying on other countries - even current allies - is NSA's JOB, dammit. Get used to it. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2014-07-03 10:12 |