Remember when everyone mocked Russ Feingold for warning Americans about the vague language and potential problems from the Patriot Act?

It was 2006
George W. Bush was president..
And we were all not aware of what Edward Snowden has recently told us..

If only we could go back in time and say sorry

Remember when everyone mocked Russ Feingold for warning Americans about the vague language and potential problems from the Patriot Act?

HERE GOES THE GUARDIAN: Revealed: the top secret rules that allow NSA to use US data without a warrant

Fisa court submissions show broad scope of procedures governing NSA’s surveillance of Americans’ communication

Normally government dumps info on a Friday. In this case, the government is probably dreading Friday GUARDIAN runs. Each time the information being revealed about the United States spy program becomes more and more interesting..

HERE GOES THE GUARDIAN: Revealed: the top secret rules that allow NSA to use US data without a warrant

It’s Snowden-slime time. 

Get ready.

He leaked big information about what the government does to surveil people. And now embarrassing photos are being sent online of him in 2002 (when he was much,  much younger) .. if this is the worst they got?? well.. that’s not bad. But I am sure his calls were traced and recorded too. So get ready for that.

Be a star! Ask for your FBI file.. But would you post it on Facebook?

You can Google your own name.. you can deeply search images on Facebook.. but do you really want to know what is known about you but the ‘powers that be?’ By the man?

A new pop industry has developed helping you request your NSA or FBI file from the government! 

It’s called GetmyFBIfile.com and it’s free of charge.. Ahhhh.. yes, the creativity of the net..

Of course you can just do it the ‘old fashioned’ way and ask for the file yourself from the FBI. But … asking for a file perhaps creates a file that didn’t exist to begin with? Oh the irony.. What to do, what to do..

Documents: U.S. mining data from 9 leading Internet firms; companies deny knowledge

U.S. intelligence has access to the servers of nine Internet companies as part of top-secret effort.

I suppose if the government would have attempted to extract data from Tumblr servers, they would have consistently received the same message that users typically receive when they try to update their websites: ‘WE’RE SORRY, SERVICE IS TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE’ 

Documents: U.S. mining data from 9 leading Internet firms; companies deny knowledge

President Obama’s Dragnet - NYTimes.com

Wow.. This is a MUST read from the NEW YORK TIMES..

And this was written BEFORE we found out that the FBI and the NSA tap directly into severs of nine top net companies getting just about everything that everybody does online..

Wow..

President Obama’s Dragnet - NYTimes.com

NSA has direct access to tech giants' systems for user data, secret files reveal

The UK GUARDIAN reporting continues.. This new amazing story is rocking the rest of the world that wasn’t rocked by the Verizon story this morning…

NSA has direct access to tech giants' systems for user data, secret files reveal

YES. We hear you. And you hear us.

The world of telecommunications was rocked today when the UK GUARDIAN reported that a FISA court ordered Verizon to provide records of calls of millions of Americans on an ongoing, daily basis. And now the  Obama Administration is defending the program as ‘critical’ for safety and the fight against terrorism..

An opinion written on CNN provides this thought on the program: A ‘different kind of creepy’..

Another report on CNN attempts to break down  what exactly the Verizon/FISA/NSA/FBI/Patriot Act issue means for you.. the report concludes that the government cannot hear what you are saying.. At least we think that according to the document released today in the GUARDIAN. We don’t know what other documents exist that have not been leaked…

Lots of people are angry. Some, including Senator Lindsay Graham, assert that they are fine with it because they didn’t do anything wrong…

But the far-reaching program appears to presume someone is doing something wrong.. Constitutional questions are involved.. privacy questions are involved.. Lots of big issues are at stake. This is important, and another issue of government surveillance that hits directly into every home across the United States.

1. Some points to further consider: This program specifically targeted Americans. Not foreigners.


2. The NSA sees and hears all, even your sex.


3. Oh, and the book 1984 was published 64 years ago today. The irony.

With the news of the day *(everyday)* this is how I now feel..

Let's answer Al Gore's question

He asked this:

In the digital era, privacy must be a priority. Is it just me, or is secret blanket surveillance obscenely outrageous?

I ask the same. Is it?

Well.. yes I guess you can hear us now.

How have we changed in ten years? A good graphic from the ACLU of spying state by state shows how we really have changed...

How have we changed in ten years? A good graphic from the ACLU of spying state by state shows how we really have changed...

This was predicted: House passed the Patriot Act Renewal tonight with a simple majority

It didn’t happen last week. But everyone knew it would go through..

The Patriot Act is literally the destruction of the 4th Amendment. That’s what it’s all about.

Ron Paul CPAC 2011 (via evilteabagger)

FYI

House debate tonight on Patriot Act extension that Obama wants.. Vote also expected tonight..