Confiscating the Phone Records of US Citizens

[Ed W]

So that's how the NSA got the pic of me in the Speedo...

[patric]

FBI director calls for greater police access to communications

Apple and Google should reconsider their plans to enable encryption by default on their smartphones, and the U.S. Congress should pass a law requiring that all communication tools allow police access to user data, U.S. FBI Director James Comey said.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2835052/fbi-director-calls-for-greater-police-access-to-communications.html

Now this is the guy who not only wants you to believe you couldn't already encrypt a smartphone, but wants you to forget he already has access to all your information in cloud storage or sent over the network.

[Vashta Nerada]

They have been using computers to sift through every phone call and email, yet they missed the Boston Marathon Bombing, ISIS, etc..
Maybe they have mis-identified their real problems?

'FBI Director James Comey says the spread of encryption, aided by Apple and Google's new security measures, will lead to "a very dark place" '
-- I think the spying did that already.

OTOH, encryption kept at least one former TPD captain out of prison (with the FBI's blessing).

[Vashta Nerada]

Freddy Martinez, a 27-year-old systems administrator, was in Chicago's Daley Plaza last February protesting National Security Agency surveillance programs when a sedan with the green-lettered license plates of an unmarked police vehicle pulled up nearby. He'd noticed trouble with dropped calls at previous demonstrations, including the 2012 NATO summit. He opened an app on his phone that spots nearby cellular transmitters and saw a new signal. He wondered if it might be coming from the car.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-10-16/cops-use-military-gear-to-track-cell-phones

[heironymouspasparagus]

So that's how the NSA got the pic of me in the Speedo...

"You're gonna love the way you look.... I guarantee it!!"


http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMjAzNjU0MzU4OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjg3MTI3NA%40%40._V1_SX214_CR0,0,214,317_AL_.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0386056/&h=253&w=171&tbnid=aj-_3gCLKh7-dM:&zoom=1&tbnh=186&tbnw=125&usg=__19AaJ_mZgEdkwgoPOHuZ3XIS2DI=&docid=RPqO2leE0xpPvM&itg=1&client=firefox-a&ved=0CIQBEMo3&ei=o05OVKLYDomxyQTGp4H4CQ

[patric]

The fisherman's net just keeps getting bigger.


WASHINGTON—The Justice Department is scooping up data from thousands of mobile phones through devices deployed on airplanes that mimic cellphone towers.  People with knowledge of the program wouldn't discuss the frequency or duration of such flights, but said they take place on a regular basis.

It is similar in approach to the National Security Agency's program to collect millions of Americans phone records, in that it scoops up large volumes of data in order to find a single person or a handful of people.
The program cuts out phone companies as an intermediary in searching for suspects. Rather than asking a company for cell-tower information to help locate a suspect, the government can now get that information itself.

Newer versions of the technology are programmed to do more than suck in data: They can also jam signals and retrieve data from a target phone such as texts or photos.  The scanning is done by the Technical Operations Group of the U.S. Marshals Service.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/americans-cellphones-targeted-in-secret-u-s-spy-program-1415917533?tesla=y&mg=reno64-wsj

[Vashta Nerada]

The fisherman's net just keeps getting bigger.


WASHINGTON—The Justice Department is scooping up data from thousands of mobile phones through devices deployed on airplanes that mimic cellphone towers.  People with knowledge of the program wouldn't discuss the frequency or duration of such flights, but said they take place on a regular basis.

It is similar in approach to the National Security Agency's program to collect millions of Americans phone records, in that it scoops up large volumes of data in order to find a single person or a handful of people.
The program cuts out phone companies as an intermediary in searching for suspects. Rather than asking a company for cell-tower information to help locate a suspect, the government can now get that information itself.

Newer versions of the technology are programmed to do more than suck in data: They can also jam signals and retrieve data from a target phone such as texts or photos.  The scanning is done by the Technical Operations Group of the U.S. Marshals Service.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/americans-cellphones-targeted-in-secret-u-s-spy-program-1415917533?tesla=y&mg=reno64-wsj

Only been doing it since 2007, where you been?

[Vashta Nerada]

In a Baltimore trial courtroom on Monday, a local judge threatened to hold a police detective in contempt of court for refusing to disclose how police located a 16-year-old robbery suspect's phone.  Once the Baltimore Police were able to locate Shemar Taylor's phone, they then searched his house and found a gun as well.

But rather than disclose the possible use of a Stingray, also known as a cell site simulator, Detective John L. Haley cited a non-disclosure agreement, likely with a federal law enforcement agency (such as the FBI) and/or the Harris Corporation, since the company is one of the dominant manufacturers of such devices. Stingrays can be used to determine a phone's location, and they can also intercept calls and text messages.

Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams retorted, "You don't have a nondisclosure agreement with the court," according to the Baltimore Sun.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/11/prosecutors-drop-key-evidence-at-trial-to-avoid-explaining-stingray-use/

[patric]

Even before this, anyone who assumes any conversation or data transfer they do over the air is private is a raving moron.

True that, but I dont think we expected it was being done on a scale that would have made the Soviets cringe.



DEA kept records of US phone calls for nearly 15 years
http://www.engadget.com/2015/01/17/dea-kept-records-of-us-phone-calls

While the program did help bust crooks, there's a concern about the distinct lack of accountability. Besides the lack of judicial controls, the leaks revealed that the DEA's Special Operations Division went so far as to "recreate" trails of evidence to hide that some info originated from call records. Moreover, it shared that information with agencies ranging from the FBI to the Department of Homeland Security.

The Justice Department says that the database is gone. However, its existence has prompted worries among privacy advocates that the government thinks (or at least, thought) that it's acceptable to extend its already controversial bulk surveillance gathering to everyday criminal cases, not just terrorism.

[cannon_fodder]

What I'm still concerned about is that our elected leaders don't even seem to get the debate:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jan/15/boehner-nsa-snooping-helped-stop-capitol-bomb-plot/?page=all

Boehner says that the Ohio mans plot to bomb something in DC was caught because of phone surveillance. 

I don't think anyone is debating the fact that if the government listens to citizens' phone calls, they will catch bad people. Just like if police were free to randomly stop and search cars, or randomly enter homes, they'd certainly catch bad people. That is all beyond a doubt.

The debate is: is listening to 330,000,000 million US citizens' phone calls justified by the possibility of occasionally catching a bad guy?

We are trading freedom for security. We are granting the government more power sow e can feel safer.  There is always a balance in play. And where that balance lies SHOULD be a matter of public debate. Certainly it started off far to the "government stay the hell out of my business and no, you can't search crap without a warrant" end of the spectrum  and has shifted more to the "freedom for security" theme as we've gone along. Particularly in the last couple of decades.

But that debate should be public. We wouldn't even be having the debate if Snowden wouldn't have broken the law and tipped us all off about it.

And why the hell are the conservatives fighting for more government power? The world has gone tipsy-turvey!

[heironymouspasparagus]

What I'm still concerned about is that our elected leaders don't even seem to get the debate:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jan/15/boehner-nsa-snooping-helped-stop-capitol-bomb-plot/?page=all

Boehner says that the Ohio mans plot to bomb something in DC was caught because of phone surveillance. 

I don't think anyone is debating the fact that if the government listens to citizens' phone calls, they will catch bad people. Just like if police were free to randomly stop and search cars, or randomly enter homes, they'd certainly catch bad people. That is all beyond a doubt.

The debate is: is listening to 330,000,000 million US citizens' phone calls justified by the possibility of occasionally catching a bad guy?

We are trading freedom for security. We are granting the government more power sow e can feel safer.  There is always a balance in play. And where that balance lies SHOULD be a matter of public debate. Certainly it started off far to the "government stay the hell out of my business and no, you can't search crap without a warrant" end of the spectrum  and has shifted more to the "freedom for security" theme as we've gone along. Particularly in the last couple of decades.

But that debate should be public. We wouldn't even be having the debate if Snowden wouldn't have broken the law and tipped us all off about it.

And why the hell are the conservatives fighting for more government power? The world has gone tipsy-turvey!

Too late.... already a done deal...!!

[patric]

Boehner says that the Ohio mans plot to bomb something in DC was caught because of phone surveillance. 

That same agency using the same surveillance knew beforehand that Sony was about to be hacked, and did nothing.
Then there was the Russian government warning the FBI ahead of time about the Boston Marathon Bombing.

[patric]

Most of the likely Republican presidential candidates are supportive of the National Security Agency's surveillance programs. But Americans who identify as Republican or lean that way appear to disagree.

That's according to a new survey from Pew Research, released on Monday, gauging post-Snowden attitudes on digital privacy and surveillance. Of respondents who were familiar with the NSA spying revelations, 70 percent of Republicans and those leaning Republican said they were losing confidence that the agency's surveillance programs served the public interest.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/republicans-have-less-faith-in-the-nsa-than-democrats-20150316

[patric]

(Reuters) - A U.S. spying program that systematically collects millions of Americans' phone records is illegal, a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday, putting pressure on Congress to quickly decide whether to replace or end the controversial anti-terrorism surveillance.

Ruling on a program revealed by former government security contractor Edward Snowden, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said the Patriot Act did not authorize the National Security Agency to collect Americans' calling records in bulk.

"For years, the government secretly spied on millions of innocent Americans based on a shockingly broad interpretation of its authority," ACLU staff attorney Alex Abdo said in a statement.

"The court rightly rejected the government's theory that it may stockpile information on all of us in case that information proves useful in the future," he said. "Mass surveillance does not make us any safer, and it is fundamentally incompatible with the privacy necessary in a free society."




So now Congress has to decide whether or not to keep committing a crime, scale back the crime, or legalize the crime with some constitutional sleight of hand.
No word yet on how this affects the same crime being committed by the DEA, U.S. Marshals, etc.

[Townsend]

So now Congress has to decide whether or not to keep committing a crime, scale back the crime, or legalize the crime with some constitutional sleight of hand.
No word yet on how this affects the same crime being committed by the DEA, U.S. Marshals, etc.

I'd guess it will continue to be done but not admitted to.