Is President Obama Or Congress To Blame For The NSA Surveilance Program?

NSA Surveillance Program: Is Obama Or Congress To Blame? -- International Business Times

The revelation of mass surveillance programs with access to phone records data and online communications has some lawmakers and editorial boards up in arms against President Obama. He is, they say, guilty of George W. Bush-style overreach.

On Friday, the president deflected these allegations of overreach by placing liability on Congress. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

Obama’s defense of mass collection of data from tech and telecommunications companies is that the program is checked by Congress, as well as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Courts. “Every member of Congress has been briefed on these programs,” Obama said, referring to the phone data collection by NSA. “These are programs that have been authorized by broad, bipartisan majorities repeatedly since 2006. And so I think at the outset it’s important to understand that your duly elected representatives have been consistently informed on what we are doing.”

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My Comment: Both Democrats and Republicans are disputing President Obama's claims that they were notified. What's my take .... this is a lose - lose situation for the President. Republicans appear to be split on the NSA program .... but for Democrats .... specifically the base .... this is sore point .... and for hard-core progressives .... inexcusable. As to who is to blame .... in my 'book' I am blaming both parties.

President Obama Speaks For First Time About The NSA's Surveillance Programs (Updated)

Obama Calls Surveillance Programs Legal and Limited -- New York Times

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Friday offered a robust defense of the government surveillance programs revealed this week, and sought to reassure the public that his administration has not become a Big Brother with eyes and ears throughout the world of online communications.

“Nobody is listening to your telephone calls,” Mr. Obama said, delivering a 14-minute answer to two questions about the surveillance programs at an event that was initially supposed to be devoted to the health care law. “That’s not what this program is about.”

The president’s remarks, during a four-day trip to the West Coast, were his first since the revelations this week of programs to collect information about phone calls and Internet traffic. Mr. Obama said the programs help prevent terrorist attacks and they are kept in check by rigorous judicial and Congressional oversight.

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More News On President Obama's Remarks On The NSA Leaks

Transcript: Obama’s Remarks on NSA Controversy -- Wall Street Journal
Obama: 'Nobody is listening to your telephone calls' – live updates -- The Guardian
Obama defends phone surveillance program, calls it critical to counterterrorism efforts -- Washington Post
Obama defends NSA surveillance programs as 'right balance' -- The Hill
Obama: ‘Nobody Is Listening to Your Telephone Calls’ -- Wall Street Journal
President Obama Defends NSA Surveillance Programs As “Right Balance” -- Time
Obama on NSA surveillance scandal: nobody is listening to your phone calls -- The Telegraph
Barack Obama defends US surveillance tactics -- BBC
Obama Defends US Surveillance Programs -- Voice of America
‘Nobody is listening to your telephone calls,’ Obama says -- MSNBC
Obama: No one listening to your calls -- CNN
Obama: Phone, Internet data collection not 'Big Brother' -- FOX News
Obama Defends Sweeping NSA Surveillance Program -- US News and World Report
Obama: "Nobody is listening to your telephone calls" -- CBS

Top U.S. Intelligence Chief Condemns The NSA Leaks

President Barack Obama greets James Clapper, his nominee for director of national intelligence, in the Oval Office, Saturday, June 5, 2010. Photo credit: Pete Souza

Intelligence Chief Calls Leaks on U.S. Data Collection ‘Reprehensible’ -- New York Times

WASHINGTON — The top intelligence official in the United States condemned as “reprehensible” leaks revealing a secret program to collect information from leading Internet companies and said a separate disclosure about an effort to sweep up records of telephone calls threatens “irreversible harm” to the nation’s national security.

The comments by James R. Clapper, the director of national intelligence, late Thursday night about the newly revealed government surveillance programs came as President Obama was set to travel to Southern California on Friday for a two-day summit with President Xi Jinping of China. The revelations appeared certain to overshadow discussions between the two leaders.

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More News On The Director Of National Intelligence Condemning The NSA Leaks

U.S. intel chief blasts leaks on web, phone use tracking -- CBS/AP
US intelligence chief denounces 'reprehensible' release of information -- The Guardian
Obama Administration Declassifies Phone Records Seizures, Condemns Leaks -- Time
James Clapper defends ‘important and entirely legal’ surveillance -- Politico
INTELLIGENCE CHIEF: WaPo And Guardian Reports On 'PRISM' Program Have 'Numerous Inaccuracies' -- Business Insider
US Spy Chief James Clapper Brands Prism Leaks ‘Reprehensible’ -- International Business Times
Intelligence Chief Says Massive Data Collection Is No Big Deal, But Reporting It Is -- Forbes

The U.K. Intelligence Services Are Also Involved In The NSA Prism Spy Program

GCHQ in Cheltenham (Image: GCHQ via CNET)

UK Gathering Secret Intelligence Via Covert NSA Operation -- The Guardian

Exclusive: UK security agency GCHQ gaining information from world's biggest internet firms through US-run Prism programme

The UK's electronic eavesdropping and security agency, GCHQ, has been secretly gathering intelligence from the world's biggest internet companies through a covertly run operation set up by America's top spy agency, documents obtained by the Guardian reveal.

The documents show that GCHQ, based in Cheltenham, has had access to the system since at least June 2010, and generated 197 intelligence reports from it last year.

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More News On The U.K. Government's Involvement In The NSA Prism Spy Program

Britain 'secretly gathering intelligence through internet firms' -- The Telegraph
Britons ARE being spied on by surveillance agencies: GCHQ using phone records and online data gleaned by US government to snoop on citizens -- Daily Mail
Britain's GCHQ 'used NSA spy programme Prism to covertly gather information from leading internet companies, including Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo and Skype' -- The Independent
UK Government Gathering Data Using Top Secret Prism Programme -- International Business Times
GCHQ gets US spy data from Google and Facebook -- London Evening Standard
UK government allegedly is involved in PRISM snooping programme -- The Inquirer
Verizon giving US government information about British companies -- The Telegraph
U.K. government 'complicit' in NSA's PRISM spy program -- ZDNet
UK enters NSA PRISM accusations with GCHQ snooping -- Slash Gear

Why America's Tech Giants Are Scared Of The NSA Prism Program

Why The NSA Prism Program Could Kill U.S. Tech Companies -- Popular Mechanics

Spying on foreigners could create a terrible blowback to the U.S. economy. Has it really come to this?

Within 24 hours, the leak of two documents has revealed a vast network of National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance operations that were authorized by FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) courts with the oversight of the U.S. Congress. The first document, which Popular Mechanics detailed yesterday, was a FISA court order demanding all telephony metadata from Verizon Business Network Services over a three-month period, though it hinted at a much broader program of call log data mining. The second document referred to a different—and apparently much larger—program aimed at real-time analysis of web traffic from nine large technology firms, including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Apple, and ("coming soon") Dropbox. Details are still murky, but it's clear that this was not some clandestine sniffing effort—it was done with the full cooperation of the companies involved (though many of the companies have denied that this represents an automatic backdoor into their servers).

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My Comment: There is a lot of truth to this Popular Mechanics article. In my spare time I do this blog .... in my professional/work life I do other things, and one of them is being a participant in web projects and web start-ups. Last year we did a survey of teenage web users (in Canada) and what struck me was that their number one concern when they were on the web was their privacy .... in short .... if they felt that their privacy was being violated, they would simply go elsewhere. The NSA Prism program is already raising a chill on social media ..... and knowing how quick social media can send a message .... the tech companies are getting justifiably worried. Customers use their services because of reliability and also because they trust them .... lose this you will lose your clients.  But as bad as this .... and it is .... what is raising concerns in the tech world is how will this impact 'Cloud'. The tech giants are banking on this as the next big thing .... but if they cannot guarantee one's security and privacy .... who will want to use it.

Major Tech Firms Are Denying That They Gave The NSA And The FBI Access To Their Servers

Documents: U.S. Mining Data From 9 Leading Internet Firms; Companies Deny Knowledge -- Washington Post

The National Security Agency and the FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio and video chats, photographs, e-mails, documents, and connection logs that enable analysts to track foreign targets, according to a top-secret document obtained by The Washington Post.

The program, code-named PRISM, has not been made public until now. It may be the first of its kind. The NSA prides itself on stealing secrets and breaking codes, and it is accustomed to corporate partnerships that help it divert data traffic or sidestep barriers. But there has never been a Google or Facebook before, and it is unlikely that there are richer troves of valuable intelligence than the ones in Silicon Valley.

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More News On Major Tech Firms Denying That They Gave The NSA And The FBI Access To Their Servers

NSA taps in to user data of Facebook, Google and others, secret files reveal -- The Guardian
Tech firms deny giving NSA, FBI 'direct access' to servers -- Mercury News/Reuters
Apple, Google, Microsoft, And Facebook Deny Involvement In Massive Government Spying Program (AAPL) -- SFGate
Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook Deny Involvement in Government Spying Program -- Entrepeneur
Facebook denies providing government 'direct access' to servers -- Reuters
Facebook: No Government Organization Was Provided With Direct Access To Our Servers -- AllFacebook
Microsoft says not part of broad government online monitoring -- Reuters
Apple denies giving government 'direct access' to servers -- Reuters
Apple denies feeding customer secrets to a U.S. spy agency -- CNN
Apple, Google, Facebook: Does NSA Have Access To Their Data? -- Value Walk
NSA scandal: what data is being monitored and how does it work? -- The Guardian
Here are the tech companies denying involvement with the NSA's PRISM program -- The Week

My Comment: What's my take .... there is a lot happening here, and the denials from these tech companies is not satisfying those who are paying attention.

U.S. Government To Declassify Some Phone Surveillance Program Details

U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper called the surveillance limited and said leaking details hurts America's security. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Top Intelligence Official Declassifies Some Phone Surveillance Program Details -- NBC News/Reuters

The United States’ top intelligence official declassified details of a top secret surveillance program after it and another secret program were revealed on Thursday -- while also blasting the leak.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper took the step in a statement issued on Thursday night, after media reports revealed the programs that have been used to collect the phone records of Americans and monitor Internet use.

Referencing a report that first appeared in Britain’s Guardian newspaper, Clapper said that the “unauthorized disclosure of a top secret U.S. court document threatens potentially long-lasting and irreversible harm to our ability to identify and respond to the many threats facing our nation.”

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More News On The U.S. Government Declassifies Some Of It's Phone Surveillance Program Details

US to declassify secret surveillance documents after uproar -- The Telegraph
Obama Administration Declassifies Phone Records Seizures, Condemns Leaks -- Time
US declassifies phone program details after uproar -- Bloomberg Businessweek/AP
US declassifies phone programme -- Independent.ie/Press Association
Top intelligence official declassifies some phone surveillance program details -- NBC

The Case For Keeping The NSA Data Mining Program Secret And Running

(Image: Screenshot by ZDNet via The Guardian)

“Top Secret” Should Mean Just That -- Max Boot, Commentary

TOP SECRET//SI//NO FORN

That’s the heading on the first page of the court order obtained the Guardian. Top Secret is one of the highest levels of security classification in the U.S. government; the other initials indicate that this is “signals intelligence,” one of the most closely guarded capabilities of the U.S. intelligence community, and that it should not shown to any foreigners. Ironically and disturbingly, a British newspaper obtained this document.

Now it seems to be open season on the secret intelligence-gathering programs of the U.S. government. Following the Guardian’s exposure of this data-mining program that collects phone logs, the Washington Post has decided to reveal the existence of a program code-named PRISM which allows the National Security Agency to tap “into the central servers of nine leading U.S. U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents and connection logs that enable analysts to track a person’s movements and contacts over time.”

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My Comment: Max Boot makes a convincing case .... but the focus will not be on the merits or secrecy of the program .... it will be on the politics .... and the ones who will be really outraged will be the President's own liberal base who feel that they have been lied to (which duh!! .... they have been).

Meet The NSA Whistleblower Who Predicted Today's Domestic Spying And Data Revelations 6 Months Ago

The NSA Whistleblower Who Guessed Exactly What Was Going On, Six Months Ago -- Quartz

Last December in an interview with Russia Today (video above), former NSA crypto-mathematician William Binney disclosed the extent to which he believed the US government was not only capable of, but actively engages in spying on internet data and web activity across the country. Binney said that the FBI has access to the emails of everyone in the US, holds a target list and monitors every email to and from those contained on the list.

If the interview was alarming in its suggestion then, it’s downright scary considering this evening’s report from the Washington Post and the Guardian that the US government has allegedly been mining data from eight of the world’s largest internet companies, including Google, Apple, Microsoft and others. (The report mentions nine companies; one of them, YouTube, is part of Google.)

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Update #1: NSA Spying: Whistleblowers Claim Vindication On Surveillance State Warnings -- Huffington Post
Update #2: NSA whistleblowers say agency casts wide net -- Wall Street Journal

My Comment: The above video was done months ago .... and I am in awe on how much he is on the money (it is a must see for those who are concerned with today's NSA revelations). I have been aware of William Binney for the past few years .... but I was always skeptical of his claims. After today's revelations .... I am definitely not.

Is NSA Domestic Spying Only The Tip Of The Iceberg?

The Guardian's Bombshell Revelation About NSA Domestic Spying Is Only The Tip Of The Iceberg -- Michael Kelley, Business Insider

Last night Glenn Greenwald revealed that the National Security Agency (NSA) is using the so-called "business records" provision of the Patriot Act to secretly collect telephone records of millions of Americans.

Although the revelation doesn't surprise privacy advocates, the fact that Greenwald obtained a top secret court order compelling Verizon to give the NSA information on all telephone calls in its systems is the first concrete piece of evidence exposing dragnet domestic surveillance.

But, unfortunately for U.S. citizens who don't want their government routinely spying on them, that's just the beginning.

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My Comment: A sobering analysis from those who should know.

BREAKING NEWS: NSA Has Targeted U.S. Internet Companies For Data Mining Through An Intelligence Program Known As PRISM

Documents: U.S. Intelligence Mining Data From Nine U.S. Internet Companies In Broad Secret Program -- Washington Post

The National Security Agency and the FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio and video chats, photographs, e-mails, documents, and connection logs that enable analysts to track one target or trace a whole network of associates, according to a top-secret document obtained by The Washington Post.

The program, code-named PRISM, has not been made public until now. It may be the first of its kind. The NSA prides itself on stealing secrets and breaking codes, and it is accustomed to corporate partnerships that help it divert data traffic or sidestep barriers. But there has never been a Google or Facebook before, and it is unlikely that there are richer troves of valuable intelligence than the ones in Silicon Valley.

Read more ....

 

More News On The NSA Program Known As Prism  

Reports: NSA taps data from 9 major Net firms -- USA Today
NSA Said to Have Collected Data From Internet Firms -- New York Times
 Intelligence officials reportedly mining data from 9 US Internet companies -- FOX News
Bombshell Report: NSA and FBI 'Tapping Directly' Into Tech Companies' Servers -- The Atlantic
 NSA Reportedly Mines Servers Of U.S. Internet Firms For Data -- NPR
US Secretly Mines Data From Internet Companies - Reports -- CNBC
Reports: U.S. spy agencies mined Internet data -- CNN
NSA Is Wired Into Top Internet Companies’ Servers, Including Google and Facebook -- Threat Level/Wired
US harvesting data from Facebook, Google and other internet giants -- The Telegraph
NSA taps in to internet giants' systems to mine user data, secret files reveal -- The Guardian
The Government Is Also Spying on Your Internet Activity With a Secret Program -- New York Magazine
Report: NSA, FBI mining data from 9 US Internet companies -- The Hill
New Report Says NSA Is Surveilling Google, Microsoft, Skype, and Others -- Mother Jones
Report: NSA, FBI accessing sites, emails -- Politico
NSA has backdoor access to Internet companies' databases -- CNet
 Report: NSA PRISM program spied on Americans' emails, searches -- PC World
Report: NSA, FBI collecting content from Google, Facebook, other services -- PC World
FBI, NSA said to be secretly mining data from nine U.S. tech giants -- ZDNet
PRISM scandal: tech giants flatly deny allowing NSA direct access to servers -- The Guardian
Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Facebook deny providing direct access to PRISM surveillance program -- The Verge
Apple denies giving government 'direct access' to servers -- Reuters
Facebook Denies Giving NSA Direct Access To Its Servers; Microsoft Says It Only Turns Over Info For 'Specific Accounts' -- Forbes
NSA slides explain the PRISM data-collection program -- Washington Post

NSA Collects Phone Data From All Verizon Customers -- News Roundup

U.S. Intelligence Agencies Brief Senators On Phone Records -- Reuters

(Reuters) - Representatives of U.S. intelligence agencies involved in a government program to gather Americans' telephone records went to Capitol Hill on Thursday to brief senators on the scheme.

Robert Litt, general counsel of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence; James Cole, the deputy attorney general; Sean Joyce, the deputy director of the FBI, and Chris Inglis, the deputy director of the National Security Agency, conducted the briefing, said Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The hastily arranged session lasted for about 2-1/2 hours and was attended by 27 members of the 100-member Senate.

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More News On The NSA Collecting American Cellphone Records

Monumental phone-records monitoring is laid bare -- AP
U.S. Maintains Vast Database of Phone Calls, Lawmakers Say -- New York Times
Verizon order casts spotlight on secretive U.S. surveillance court -- Reuters
NSA whistleblowers say agency casts wide net -- AP
U.S. Senators: NSA Cellphone Spying Has Gone On 'For Years' -- Forbes
U.S. NSA is collecting phone records of Verizon customers -report -- Reuters
Eric Holder declines to discuss phone spying program – live updates -- The Guardian
NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily -- The Guardian
Report: US collecting huge number of phone records -- AP
NSA collecting phone records for millions of Verizon customers, report says -- FOX News
Report: Feds getting phone records of all Verizon customers -- CBS
Verizon Phone Records Secretly Collected by Feds: Report -- ABC News
Report: Secret court order forces Verizon to turn over telephone records of millions -- CNN
U.S. Is Secretly Collecting Records of Verizon Calls -- New York Times
Government Is Tracking Verizon Customers' Records -- Wall Street Journal
NSA seizes phone records of Verizon customers -- Washington Times
Obama administration collecting huge number of citizens’ phone records, lawmaker says -- Washington Post/AP
Verizon Ordered to Provide NSA With Millions of Phone Records -- US News and World Report
NSA Reportedly Collecting Phone Records Of Millions, Though Officials Had Denied Holding 'Data' On Americans -- FOX News
NSA Collecting Verizon Phone Records, Guardian Reports -- Bloomberg Businessweek
Obama govt secretly collecting phone records of millions of Americans -- The Telegraph
US 'orders Verizon to disclose millions of phone records' -- BBC
U.S. government secretly collecting data on millions of Verizon users: Report -- The Ticket/Yahoo News
Report: NSA Was Granted Order to Snag Millions of Verizon Call Records for 3 Months -- Danger Room
NSA spies on American customers of Verizon (Video) -- Examiner
Obama Administration Authorized Spying on up to a Third of Americans -- Daily Tech
Verizon says it can be forced to comply with secret data requests -- Reuters

The White House Defends The NSA Program To Collect Phone Records (Updated)

Obama Administration Defends Massive Phone Record Collection -- Reuters

(Reuters) - The Obama administration on Thursday defended its collection of the telephone records of millions of Americans as part of U.S. counterterrorism efforts, re-igniting a fierce debate over privacy even as it called the program critical to warding off an attack.

The admission came after Britain's Guardian newspaper published on Wednesday a secret court order authorizing the collection of phone records generated by millions of Verizon Communications customers.

Privacy advocates blasted the order as unconstitutional government surveillance and called for a review of the program amid renewed concerns about intelligence-gathering efforts launched after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

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More News On The White House And Other Lawmakers Supporting The NSA In Collecting Phone Records

Former NSA head defends agency reportedly spying on millions of Americans -- FOX News
NSA snooping has foiled multiple terror plots: Feinstein -- NBC
Obama administration defends NSA’s secret seizure of U.S. phone records -- Washington Times
Administration defends collecting phone records -- AP
Obama administration defends phone record collection -- Reuters
Obama administration defends NSA collection of Verizon phone records -- The Guardian
Obama administration defends phone record seizure, does not confirm Verizon report -- NBC
US defends phone record sweep as 'tool' against terror -- AFP
US Defends Secretly Collecting Phone Records -- Voice of America
White House defends NSA collection of Verizon phone records; insists no eavesdropping -- Washington Times
White House defends collection of Verizon telephone records -- McClatchy News
Administration, Lawmakers Defend NSA Program To Collect Phone Records -- Washington Post
Senate intelligence leaders say phone surveillance is 'lawful' -- CNN
Senators: NSA phone sweeping has been going on since 2007 -- The Hill
Sen. Jeff Flake: Other phone companies probably aid feds on snooping -- Washington Times
‘It’s Called Protecting America’: Senators Defend NSA On Phone Records -- TPM
Senate leaders say NSA data gathering is routine -- USA Today
Democrats criticize NSA phone tracking -- Politico
GOP Sen. Graham says he’s ‘glad’ NSA is collecting phone records -- Washington Times
Sen. Rand Paul slams government phone spying -- Washington Times
Fisa chief judge defends integrity of court over Verizon records collection -- The Guardian

Commentaries, Opinions, And Analysis On The NSA Collecting Verizon Phone Records (Updated)

Government Phone Surveillance for Dummies -- Megan Garber, The Atlantic

Surprise: Your leaders are monitoring the calls you make! Some frequently asked questions, answered.

First things first: What's all the fuss about?

The discovery and publication of a top-secret court order, issued this April, compelling Verizon to turn over the telephone records of millions of its U.S. customers to the National Security Agency.

So, whoa, the government has been eavesdropping on our phone conversations?

Not quite slash not that we know of. The order calls for the turnover of metadata, the external information about the telephone calls. It specifically excludes the content of the call. As the order puts it, "telephony metadata does not include the substantive content of any communication, as defined by 18 U.S.C. 2510(8), or the name, address, or financial information of a subscriber or customer."

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More News On Commentaries, Opinions, And Analysis On The NSA Collecting Verizon Phone Records

What We Don't Know About Spying on Citizens: Scarier Than What We Know -- Bruce Schneier, The Atlantic
Also Revealed by Verizon Leak: How the NSA and FBI Lie With Numbers -- Kevin Poulsen, Threat Level/Wired
Show Me the Memo Obama should share his legal justification for collecting Verizon's phone records -- Jeffrey Rosen, New Republic
A Look at America’s Most Secretive Court -- Wall Street Journal
Is Congress Responsible for NSA Phone Data Mining? -- Lauren Fox, US News and World Report
Scope of NSA's phone data snooping is 'breathtaking' -- Jaikumar Vijayan, Computer World
Expert: NSA phone-tracking 'insane' -- Philip Ewing, Politico
Collection of phone records stirs debate: Valuable tool or 'beyond Orwellian'? -- Josh Levs and Greg Botelho, CNN
‘No Such Agency’ spies on the communications of the world -- Anne Gearan, Washington Post
NSA's phone snooping a different kind of creepy -- Douglas Rushkoff, Special to CNN
Verizon phone-snooping flap: why Obama won't be harmed -- Linda Feldmann, Christian Science Monitor
Obama's Verizon surveillance reveals massive erosion of US civil liberties -- Jonathan Turley, The Guardian
NSA Collection Of Verizon Phone Records Sparks Angry Reactions -- The Guardian
Obama's Verizon phone records collection carries on Bush's work -- Richard Seymour, The Guardian
NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily -- Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian
What An NSA Domestic Spying Operation Looks Like -- Frontline
The N.S.A.-Verizon Scandal -- Amy Davidson, New Yorker
Obama's Security State Now Out of Control -- Tim Stanley, Daily Telegraph
Civil liberties groups react to report on government collecting phone records -- FOX News
'Can You Hear Me Now?' Social Media Reacts Bitterly To NSA Surveillance Of Verizon -- Betsy Isaacson, Huffington Post
Privacy Groups Furious Over Secret NSA Verizon Order -- Mashable
Liberals Can't Ignore the Verizon Phone Records Scandal -- Jordan Fabian, ABC News
Obama’s Phone Spying May Be Distasteful, But it’s Legal -- Adam Weinstein, ABC News
The Secret Law Behind NSA's Verizon Snooping -- Noah Feldman, Bloomberg
Big Brother is Watching Your Cell Phone -- Megan McArdle, Daily Beast
Wake Up, America: You're Letting Your Privacy Slip Away -- Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic
'Outrageous': Verizon reportedly forced to turn over customers' phone records -- CNN
NSA Spying: An Obama Scandal? -- David Corn, Mother Jones
What does the Verizon order mean for me? -- Michael Pearson, CNN
3 Key Questions for the White House on the Verizon Phone Record Dragnet -- Terry Moran, ABC News
NSA spying on Americans is an outrage -- Jay Bookman, AJC
Should the Government Stop Collecting Phone Records? -- Teresa Welsh, US News and World Report
Verizon, Telephony Metadata, the National Security Agency and You -- Doug Aamoth, Time
Court order forcing Verizon to hand over call data 'in place since 2006' -- The Guardian
Verizon court order: telephone call metadata and what it can show -- The Guardian
Q. and A. on the Domestic Surveillance Program -- New York Times

US Attorney General Holder Refuses To Answer When Asked If The Justice Department Is Spying On Members Of Congress

Kirk to Holder: Is DOJ Spying On Congress? -- Washington Examiner

Attorney General Eric Holder refused to answer when asked if the Justice Department is spying on Members of Congress, citing the need for a classified conversation, which lawmakers accepted while asking him to make sure that evidence of such surveillance is not destroyed.

“With all due respect, Senator, I don’t think this is an appropriate setting for me to discuss [this issue],” Holder replied during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing when Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., asked if the executive branch was conducting surveillance that would give “unique leverage” over lawmakers.

Kirk replied that “the correct answer would be no, we stayed within our lane, and we did not spy on Members of Congress.”

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Update #1: Holder ducks NSA phone record questions in Senate hearing - as it happened -- The Guardian
Update #2: Watch Eric Holder Refuse to Answer Whether Congress’ Phones Were Monitored -- The Blaze

My Comment: If Congressional members and their staff are Verizon customers .... you can bet that their phone calls have been monitored. This scandal is getting bigger, and kudos to Sen. Mark Kirk for asking the right question that clearly made the Attorney General very nervous .... his refusal to answer is the answer to the question.

Commentaries, Opinions, And Analysis On The NSA Collecting Verizon Phone Records

NSA Collection Of Verizon Phone Records Sparks Angry Reactions -- The Guardian

Round-up of Twitter reactions to the revelation that the NSA is collecting phone records of millions of US Verizon customers

The Guardian revealed on Thursday that the National Security Agency is collecting the telephone records of millions of US customers of a division of Verizon, one of America's largest telecoms providers, under a top-secret court order issued in April. Here we round-up some of the reaction to the story from Twitter.

From Al Gore, former US vice-president:

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More News On Commentaries, Opinions, And Analysis On The NSA Collecting Verizon Phone Records

Obama's Verizon surveillance reveals massive erosion of US civil liberties -- Jonathan Turley, The Guardian
Obama's Verizon phone records collection carries on Bush's work -- Richard Seymour, The Guardian
NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily -- Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian
What An NSA Domestic Spying Operation Looks Like -- Frontline
The N.S.A.-Verizon Scandal -- Amy Davidson, New Yorker
Obama's Security State Now Out of Control -- Tim Stanley, Daily Telegraph
Civil liberties groups react to report on government collecting phone records -- FOX News
'Can You Hear Me Now?' Social Media Reacts Bitterly To NSA Surveillance Of Verizon -- Betsy Isaacson, Huffington Post
Privacy Groups Furious Over Secret NSA Verizon Order -- Mashable
Liberals Can't Ignore the Verizon Phone Records Scandal -- Jordan Fabian, ABC News
Obama’s Phone Spying May Be Distasteful, But it’s Legal -- Adam Weinstein, ABC News
The Secret Law Behind NSA's Verizon Snooping -- Noah Feldman, Bloomberg
Big Brother is Watching Your Cell Phone -- Megan McArdle, Daily Beast
Wake Up, America: You're Letting Your Privacy Slip Away -- Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic
'Outrageous': Verizon reportedly forced to turn over customers' phone records -- CNN
NSA Spying: An Obama Scandal? -- David Corn, Mother Jones
What does the Verizon order mean for me? -- Michael Pearson, CNN
3 Key Questions for the White House on the Verizon Phone Record Dragnet -- Terry Moran, ABC News
NSA spying on Americans is an outrage -- Jay Bookman, AJC
Should the Government Stop Collecting Phone Records? -- Teresa Welsh, US News and World Report
Verizon, Telephony Metadata, the National Security Agency and You -- Doug Aamoth, Time
Court order forcing Verizon to hand over call data 'in place since 2006' -- The Guardian
Verizon court order: telephone call metadata and what it can show -- The Guardian
Q. and A. on the Domestic Surveillance Program -- New York Times

The White House Defends The NSA Program To Collect Phone Records

Administration, Lawmakers Defend NSA Program To Collect Phone Records -- Washington Post

The Obama administration and key U.S. lawmakers on Thursday defended a National Security Agency program that apparently has collected the telephone records of tens of millions of American customers of Verizon, one of the nation’s largest phone companies, under a top-secret court order.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said the court order, issued in April, appears to be “the exact three-month renewal” of the program that has been underway for the past seven years. She said the program is “lawful.”

The order, which was signed by a judge from the secret court that oversees domestic surveillance, was first reported Wednesday on the Web site of London’s Guardian newspaper. The Web site reproduced a copy of the order, which two former U.S. officials told The Washington Post appears to be authentic.

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More News On The White House And Other Lawmakers Supporting The NSA In Collecting Phone Records

Administration defends collecting phone records -- AP
Obama administration defends phone record collection -- Reuters
Obama administration defends NSA collection of Verizon phone records -- The Guardian
Obama administration defends phone record seizure, does not confirm Verizon report -- NBC
US defends phone record sweep as 'tool' against terror -- AFP
US Defends Secretly Collecting Phone Records -- Voice of America
White House defends NSA collection of Verizon phone records; insists no eavesdropping -- Washington Times
White House defends collection of Verizon telephone records -- McClatchy News
Senate intelligence leaders say phone surveillance is 'lawful' -- CNN
Senators: NSA phone sweeping has been going on since 2007 -- The Hill
Sen. Jeff Flake: Other phone companies probably aid feds on snooping -- Washington Times
‘It’s Called Protecting America’: Senators Defend NSA On Phone Records -- TPM
Senate leaders say NSA data gathering is routine -- USA Today
Democrats criticize NSA phone tracking -- Politico
GOP Sen. Graham says he’s ‘glad’ NSA is collecting phone records -- Washington Times
Sen. Rand Paul slams government phone spying -- Washington Times

NSA Collects Phone Data From All Verizon Customers -- News Roundup

NSA Reportedly Collecting Phone Records Of Millions, Though Officials Had Denied Holding 'Data' On Americans -- FOX News

Reports that the Obama administration has been collecting the phone records of millions of Verizon customers in the U.S. could contradict statements made by top officials who previously claimed the government was not holding data on Americans.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was asked at a March hearing whether the National Security Agency collects any data on millions of Americans.

"No sir ... not wittingly," Clapper responded, acknowledging there are cases "where inadvertently, perhaps" the data could be collected.

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More News On The NSA Collecting American Cellphone Records

Eric Holder declines to discuss phone spying program – live updates -- The Guardian
NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily -- The Guardian
Report: US collecting huge number of phone records -- AP
NSA collecting phone records for millions of Verizon customers, report says -- FOX News
Report: Feds getting phone records of all Verizon customers -- CBS
Verizon Phone Records Secretly Collected by Feds: Report -- ABC News
Report: Secret court order forces Verizon to turn over telephone records of millions -- CNN
U.S. Is Secretly Collecting Records of Verizon Calls -- New York Times
Government Is Tracking Verizon Customers' Records -- Wall Street Journal
NSA seizes phone records of Verizon customers -- Washington Times
Obama administration collecting huge number of citizens’ phone records, lawmaker says -- Washington Post/AP
Verizon Ordered to Provide NSA With Millions of Phone Records -- US News and World Report
NSA Collecting Verizon Phone Records, Guardian Reports -- Bloomberg Businessweek
Obama govt secretly collecting phone records of millions of Americans -- The Telegraph
US 'orders Verizon to disclose millions of phone records' -- BBC
U.S. government secretly collecting data on millions of Verizon users: Report -- The Ticket/Yahoo News
Report: NSA Was Granted Order to Snag Millions of Verizon Call Records for 3 Months -- Danger Room
NSA spies on American customers of Verizon (Video) -- Examiner
Obama Administration Authorized Spying on up to a Third of Americans -- Daily Tech
Verizon says it can be forced to comply with secret data requests -- Reuters

Is The U.S. Government Recording All Telephone Calls?

Former FBI counterterrorism agent Tim Clemente, on CNN, discussing government's surveillance capabilities Photograph: CNN screegrab

Are All Telephone Calls Recorded And Accessible To The US Government? -- Glen Greenwald, The Guardian

A former FBI counterterrorism agent claims on CNN that this is the case.

The real capabilities and behavior of the US surveillance state are almost entirely unknown to the American public because, like most things of significance done by the US government, it operates behind an impenetrable wall of secrecy. But a seemingly spontaneous admission this week by a former FBI counterterrorism agent provides a rather startling acknowledgment of just how vast and invasive these surveillance activities are.

Over the past couple days, cable news tabloid shows such as CNN's Out Front with Erin Burnett have been excitingly focused on the possible involvement in the Boston Marathon attack of Katherine Russell, the 24-year-old American widow of the deceased suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev. As part of their relentless stream of leaks uncritically disseminated by our Adversarial Press Corps, anonymous government officials are claiming that they are now focused on telephone calls between Russell and Tsarnaev that took place both before and after the attack to determine if she had prior knowledge of the plot or participated in any way.

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My Comment: If the U.S. government is recording all telephone calls .... they must have one huge storage  data center somewhere/someplace that will defy the imagination.

How Spying Software Can Be Abused By Governments

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This Powerful Spy Software Is Being Abused By Governments Around The World -- Business Insider

A new report presents overwhelming evidence that sophisticated spying software is being abused by governments around the world.

The findings by The Citizen Lab, a digital research laboratory at the University of Toronto, detail how the software marketed to track criminals is being used against dissidents and human rights activists.

Titled "For Their Eyes Only: The Commercialization of Digital Spying," the report focuses on a type of surveillance software called FinSpy that can remotely monitor webmail and social networks in real time as well as collect encrypted data and communications of unsuspecting targets.

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My Comment: A heads up on how the surveillance society is evolving.