As I’ve noted many times in this community, the following report is about the over-arching reality of our surveillance state. This story has been reported—in various iterations—based upon statements from approximately a dozen reliable sources, over the past few years. And, here it is again.
(A very big h/t to Kossack CroneWit, for bringing this to our attention.)
There's more on this via Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, no less.
That’s the thing about the truth; sooner or later, it gets out…
The ultimate goal of the NSA is total population control
At least 80% of all audio calls, not just metadata, are recorded and stored in the US, says whistleblower William Binney – that's a 'totalitarian mentality'
Antony Loewenstein
theguardian.com
Thursday 10 July 2014 19.54 EDT
William Binney is one of the highest-level whistleblowers to ever emerge from the NSA. He was a leading code-breaker against the Soviet Union during the Cold War but resigned soon after September 11, disgusted by Washington’s move towards mass surveillance.
On 5 July he spoke at a conference in London organised by the Centre for Investigative Journalism and revealed the extent of the surveillance programs unleashed by the Bush and Obama administrations.
“At least 80% of fibre-optic cables globally go via the US”, Binney said. “This is no accident and allows the US to view all communication coming in. At least 80% of all audio calls, not just metadata, are recorded and stored in the US. The NSA lies about what it stores.”
The NSA will soon be able to collect 966 exabytes a year, the total of internet traffic annually. Former Google head Eric Schmidt once argued that the entire amount of knowledge from the beginning of humankind until 2003 amount to only five exabytes.
Binney, who featured in a 2012 short film by Oscar-nominated US film-maker Laura Poitras, described a future where surveillance is ubiquitous and government intrusion unlimited.
“The ultimate goal of the NSA is total population control”, Binney said, “but I’m a little optimistic with some recent Supreme Court decisions, such as law enforcement mostly now needing a warrant before searching a smartphone.”
He praised the revelations and bravery of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and told me that he had indirect contact with a number of other NSA employees who felt disgusted with the agency’s work. They’re keen to speak out but fear retribution and exile, not unlike Snowden himself, who is likely to remain there for some time…
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For quite some time, this has been the greater, over-arching “NSA story.” Almost a year ago, to the day…
Long before anyone ever heard of Edward Snowden, it was already time to fight the good fight
bobswern
Daily Kos
Thu Jul 18, 2013 at 03:51 AM EDT
Long before anyone ever heard of Edward Snowden…
…Bill Binney and J. Kirk Wiebe, both being whistleblowers and former senior NSA employees, told us the U.S. government was capturing the content of 320 million phone calls per day, as early as 2002. Not too many people paid attention.
…Mark Klein, an AT&T Senior Technician, publicly noted on ABC’s “Nightline,” in June 2008, that massive phone lines were being split at switching stations around the country so the NSA would be enabled to capture extreme amounts of call content. Not too many people paid attention.
...Russell Tice, another NSA whistleblower, echoed Binney’s and Klein’s sentiments on-air with Keith Olbermann in January 2009. Not too many people paid attention.
…James Bamford authored an article in Wired, in Spring 2012, reporting upon how the National Security Agency’s Stellar Wind project was being centralized and relocated at a new $2 billion facility in Bluffdale, Utah. It is on schedule for its grand opening in September (roughly two months from now). Not too many people paid attention.
…Attorney General Eric Holder, less than a week after Bamford’s article appeared in Wired, signed off on “Total Information Awareness” on all U.S. citizens, enabling our government to maintain comprehensive communications and datafiles on any and all Americans, without respect as to whether or not they had any links to terrorism, for up to five years (after those communications occurred), according to the New York Times. Not too many people paid attention.
…Eric Lichtblau, over at the New York Times, just a week after Holder announced his Total Information Awareness initiative, informed us that--thanks to an investigation by scores of American Civil Liberties Union affiliates across the country--police and related law enforcement organizations throughout the land were engaged in warrantless phone tracking of virtually countless numbers of U.S. citizens. Not too many people paid attention.
…The ACLU, just over three months after Lichtblau’s story (noted in the paragraph above) appeared in the NY Times, in early July 2012, publicized the results of its Freedom of Information Act requests of local law enforcement organizations in the U.S., and we learned that, in 2011, alone, they made 1.3 million+ domestic surveillance requests—including wiretaps, pen registers, and “track and trace” requests through the various cellular/telecommunications carriers. Coincidentally, according to recent reports in the media over the past few weeks, 2011 was the year in which we’re now being told the Obama administration had already curtailed much of the Bush administration’s domestic surveillance activities. Not too many people paid attention.
…Tim Clemente, a former FBI counterterrorism expert noted on CNN — not just once, but in two separate interviews, roughly 10 weeks ago--that virtually all digital phone call content, which most reading this may not realize also includes landlines, in the United States is captured and held by our government, Not too many people paid attention.
… Declan McCullagh, a CNET correspondent noted the same thing, just a few weeks later, as a byproduct of his coverage of a conversation held during a congressional hearing between Congressman Jerrold Nadler and then-FBI Director Robert Mueller. A significant attempt was made to discredit his report—not just throughout the MSM, but in the blogosphere, including here at Daily Kos. In a revision to his story, McCullagh largely stuck to his guns. While many, even here at Daily Kos, focused upon the status quo’s efforts to discredit McCullagh, not too many people paid attention.
So, it may be said that when Glenn Greenwald started reporting upon the contents of former NSA/CIA/Booz Allen Hamilton contract employee Edward Snowden’s NSA data dump, which commenced just about six weeks ago, people started paying attention.
Earlier on Wednesday, Johm Iadarola, of the Young Turks, certainly was paying attention…and he wanted to make sure his viewers were, as well, when he highlighted this snippet from Greenwald…
Right now, as Greenwald tells us, the NSA can store the contents of one billion phone calls every day. I’m sure that within a few months, once the NSA’s Bluffdale, Utah site is up and running, the NSA’s storage capability will increase exponentially.
Contrary to the spin, it really is all about “Obama’s Expanding Surveillance Universe,” by Alfred W. McCoy.
Are you paying attention? Aside from everything mentioned above, IMHO, there are many brutally important reasons why, just maybe, you should.
Our surveillance state is now light years beyond “the war on terror….”
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So, here we are, virtually a year after I published the piece, excerpted above, at Daily Kos, and now the Guardian (once again) and even the folks at The Pew Center are reporting about where this is all taking us…and it’s a very ugly, inverted totalitarian place…
…The era of mass surveillance has gone from the fringes of public debate to the mainstream, where it belongs. The Pew Research Centre released a report this month, Digital Life in 2025, that predicted worsening state control and censorship, reduced public trust, and increased commercialisation of every aspect of web culture.
As today’s
Guardian also notes:
“…It’s not just internet experts warning about the internet’s colonisation by state and corporate power…”
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