As you may have, I received a mass email from Rep. Diane Russell / MoveOn about NSA collection of internet communications metadata and, apparently, data. It raises a number of questions and issues (and not only about government spying). For instance, the email begins:
Just this afternoon, The Guardian, released a new article outlining how Microsoft and Skype have been working directly with the NSA...
It's worth asking why Americans have become so dependent on foreign media for investigative journalism about the US. As a matter of fact, a Google search found mention of the Guardian story at numerous websites - but I had to go to the third page of results to find one result from a US major media source - an
ABC site. The US media not only isn't investigating, it doesn't seem in a hurry to report what others dig up. Amusingly, this was in the ABC site's "Investigative" section [in the blog area], which says, "Exclusive and breaking news stories from Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross and the investigative team."
The email continues:
It had been previously reported that the Prism program just collected metadata, but according to the article the Microsoft and Skype partnership goes well beyond that - including providing access to the popular Microsoft Office SkyDrive cloud used by more than 250 million users...
Perhaps, it may be early to treat these statements as a certainty, but at least we have to demand that we know. And if it is true, everyone who has been lying to the American people about this needs to be punished. (Certainly, if the NSA has been lying to the President, that requires punishment. And if Obama knew the truth and lied to the public...) It's one thing to claim they have the right not to tell us about a spy program, it's another to let them respond to previous leaked information making specific false statements that only metadata was collected and data was only accessed when a secret court approved a specific case.
It also begs the question: "Does the US government honestly believe that Al Qaeda is saving documents about terrorist activities in cloud storage on servers they don't control?" Maybe the NSA should just check all the Google photos of buildings along streets and see if any buildings have a sign over the door saying, "Al Qaeda Headquarters" and a notice in the window saying "Terrorist meeting tonight".
The email says:
Skype ... worked with intelligence agencies last year to allow Prism to collect video of conversations as well as audio...
Think. All the phone and email info being collected. Tracking files in cloud storage for 250 million SkyDrive users - plus however millions more from other companies. Plus all this audio and video. Try to imagine the vast resources being used by the NSA and other agencies to do all this collecting, tracking and analyzing. The cost must be astronomical. Is this why we have to cut back on Meals for Wheels for the elderly, food stamps and other programs for the needy?