NSA employees spied on their lovers using eavesdropping programme

[Tony_FLADEM]

Source: The Telegraph

Staff working at America's National Security Agency – the eavesdropping unit that was revealed to have spied on millions of people – have used the technology to spy on their lovers.

The employees even had a code name for the practice – "Love-int" – meaning the gathering of intelligence on their partners.

Dianne Feinstein, a senator who chairs the Senate intelligence committee, said the NSA told her committee about a set of "isolated cases" that have occurred about once a year for the last 10 years. The spying was not within the US, and was carried out when one of the lovers was abroad.

One employee was disciplined for using the NSA's resources to track a former spouse, the Associated Press said.

Last week it was disclosed that the NSA had broken privacy rules on nearly 3,000 occasions over a one-year period.

John DeLong, NSA chief compliance officer, said that those errors were mainly unintentional, but that there have been "a couple" of wilful violations in the past decade.



Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10263880/NSA-employees-spied-on-their-lovers-using-eavesdropping-programme.html

[OnyxCollie]

1. "The Invisible Man" demonstrates the abuse of power.

[kelliekat44]

38. Police in every state and county have been doing this for years. nt

[branford]

44. An no matter how many times, it happens, it is still not OK.

There is also the matter of the level of pervasiveness, access, degree and available oversight between some dumb deputy in a local police department and an unknown operative of the NSA employing cutting-edge technology.

[Newsjock]

2. But, but, but ...

Greenwald! Rand Paul! Drug mule! Pole dancer! Old news! Communists!

And how many innocent Americans were "three hops" away from those unlucky lovers and, therefore, caught in the dragnet as well?

[grasswire]

3. limited hangout

That's what this is. Disinformation.

[Ocelot]

5. You mean your post? (n/t)

[Jesus Malverde]

17. I like how they frame the abuse with the ole she was off the reservation so it was half ok.

The abuse isn't that we have built a system that with a few strokes of the keyboard can create a mathematical 3-D model of a citizen's psychographic patterns for behavior analysis and prediction purposes, and watch that person in real time.

It's that, har har, an analyst tracked his girlfriend.

But only while she was overseas...

[branford]

45. Why bother working for the NSA if you cannot track your girlfriend. Duh. /sarc. n/t

[frylock]

23. yep

[limpyhobbler]

4. These are just the cases where someone got caught and ticketed

Remember when the NSA thought it was funny to listen to people's phone sex ?

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/exclusive-inside-account-us-eavesdropping-americans/story?id=5987804


You can't keep people from doing this when they have it sitting in front of them and they are bored at work. It's just like how you can make a speed limit on the road, but you can't keep people from driving over the limit. You can catch and ticket a few. But most speeding doesn't get you a ticket. If you don't make a noticeable habit of it you usually get through fine without a ticket.

[Supersedeas]

14. yeah, not so funny now

[Yo_Mama]

20. Exactly - it's inevitable.

Anyone who thought this WASN'T happening is not living in the real world. "Going viral" at NSA is probably pretty common.

[agent46]

6. What about?

This report is a cynical trivialization of the abuse potential built into the system.

What about?

Biz-int
Entrepreneurs in the free capitalist tradition using their access to provide paid information services to a trusted network of business clients.

Pol-int
Political operatives with access giving recommendations to party strategists and politicians without disclosing any classified information.

Trade-int
Unscrupulous employees with stock brokers.

God-int
Religious fanatics doing "god's work" for their organizations and activist groups.

Alex-int
Self-styled patriots doing their paranoid best against the Illuminati controlled machinery of the prison planet matrix on behalf of their personal beliefs and affiliations.

And so on...

There are as many misuses for these programs as there are people who will make excuses for them.

[99th_Monkey]

26. the "Trade-int" is totally a real thing, or at least Germany thinks so & is pissed.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023523658

[Ocelot]

7. "there have been "a couple" of wilful violations in the past decade."

Yes, a couple that they will admit to. And a whole bunch more that they won't admit to, at least not until they are forced to do so.

There is an extreme creepiness factor here, the fact that NSA employees will abuse their positions to spy on their lovers. Not my kind of people, sorry.

[branford]

46. I'm thinking that we need a whole lot more polygraph tests at the NSA!

[Salviati]

8. Seriously, the fact that this sort of abuse doesn't result in

immediate firing, loss of security clearance, and ending of career, means that this kind of abuse and/or worse is endemic. It's rotten to the core, the only solution is to shut the whole system down.

[Puzzledtraveller]

42. So they keep us fighting each other, year after year

divided, distracted and defeated. They are so bold that now they lie in the open. Everything denied. Yes, the system needs a total reset. I'm sick of it. All the players.

[George II]

9. About once a year for ten years?

I'd say that is much less than would have been expected - how many people spy on their lovers in mainstream America? Private investigators are a huge industry in this country.

[Jackpine Radical]

24. Couples therapists whom I know tell me

that whenever one member of a couple suspects infidelity, they get hold of their partner's cell phone & their credit card records & search them for incriminating evidence.

My point is that this is what "ordinary" people almost invariably do. It takes little imagination to suspect that many of the Intelligence types, with their already suspicious natures, would misuse every tool at their disposal in pursuit of information about wayward spouses. And who could resist a little insider trading when you know that nobody will ever know that you got access to some confidential information…

[Sunlei]

10. anyone who works there are free to enter any persons info they care to stalk?how many aren't caught!

[Jackpine Radical]

25. Exactly.

If you assume (generously) that 1 in 100 snoops is caught, and that each snoop completes 100 violations, suddenly that "10 cases" becomes 10,000 violations.

[wildbilln864]

11. k & r. n/t

[tinrobot]

12. It was carried out when one of the lovers was abroad?

Yeah, right.

Tell me another fairy tale...

[Sancho]

13. ...and of the thousands of secret employees who have this capability...

how many listened in to make money or to political opponents, or any other motivation! They know they can't be caught, punished, or even charged because they are secret, protected employees of private companies with unregulated power to eavesdrop, steal information anytime they wish..

Sounds to me like Snowden knew what he was talking about!!!

[wtmusic]

16. +1

[Supersedeas]

19. the potential scope of abuse is limitless

[NealK]

39. +1

[Coyotl]

49. ^^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^^

[wtmusic]

15. Yup, only looking for the "bad guys". nt

[Yo_Mama]

18. Is anyone really surprised?

Really? This sort of thing is inevitable.

[Hydra]

28. I'm personallty not

I knew this was going on- Snowden basically said it. I wanted it on paper so I can show the people who have their fingers in their ears that this is a human run agency with no oversight. Abuses WILL happen on as grand a scale as they can get away with. End of story.

[frylock]

21. The spying was not within the US, and was carried out when one of the lovers was abroad.

anyone else beside DiNo believe that shit?

[99th_Monkey]

27. Har-har!! good one! ~nt

[Jackpine Radical]

29. Me. I believe that.

"I can't believe that!" said Alice.
"Can't you?" the Queen said in a pitying tone. "Try again: draw a long breath, and shut your eyes."
Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said: "one can't believe impossible things."
"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

[branford]

47. But, but . . . Obama and the NSA told us not to worry.

[JoeyT]

30. Anyone that's ever had/known a stalker

or had a possessive ex could have told you this was going to happen, and it's going to happen a lot. They can claim one a year all they like.

[Wernothelpless]

33. Yeap....

And they probably hired the service out (for a fee) to friends who had wealthy clients that needed to "keep an eye" on their wives or girlfriends or their daughter's husband or boyfriend ...

The good ol'boys club ... nothing new here ....

[grasswire]

37. yeah, what about the sub sub contractors?

I would wager that Rove had (has) someone on the inside of that. Also Romney.

It would not be hard for a politician or public figure to find someone to get hired by a contractor, and then tap anyone they want, for gain.

[WillyT]

31. K & R !!!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

32. 'The spying was not within the US, and was carried out when one of the lovers was abroad."

[Ash_F]

34. Haha, I wonder how the DUers infatuated with these clowns feel about this?

They were only going to use this power to protect you against the big bad Arabs, right?

[indepat]

35. Surely neither NSA employees

nor any of the multitude of private contractors will ever abuse their authority in a way that detrimentally impacts a citizen in the performance of a seemingly unconstitutional act. No sir!

[GoneFishin]

36. But that wasn't for money or power. It never happens for money or power.

Or to blackmail a politician to vote a certain way. Or to cajole a governmental agency to rule favorably. Or to leverage an individual to donate or withhold funding. Or to "encourage" a board to choose one bidder over another.

Nope. Nope. That would never happen.

[NealK]

40. K&R

[dballance]

43. As if this is a shock.

Come on. Bank tellers, insurance agents, cable & phone company customer service reps, utility people all use their customer information systems to spy on their partners. This is not news and shouldn't be a surprise at all that people with that capability used it at the NSA. If it's so widespread it has a nickname it's not "isolated." They obviously know there is so minimal and ineffective oversight they do as they please.

[awoke_in_2003]

48. Mainly accidental...

Yeah, I am sure.

[Coyotl]

50. And, where is the political operative station with the secret back door?

I'm concerned about wholesale abuse on a massive scale benefiting the select few who set the whole thing up.

[DontTreadOnMe]

51. Facebook is collecting more data about YOU than the NSA

But if you prefer to live as a paranoid, then I guess you have the right to do so... because we all know how important YOU are, and ALL your communications should be recorded... psst. They even track what you EAT!

[ConcernedCanuk]

53. Ya don't think NSA is watching FaceBook?

.
.
.

CC

[DontTreadOnMe]

54. Are you against Facebook?

or just the NSA?

[ConcernedCanuk]

55. No, I am not against FaceBook

.
.
.

I suspect NSA follows FaceBook closely, as well as hundreds if not thousands of other sites.

NSA is only one of the "alphabet soup" agencies that I am "against".

CIA and FBI come to mind, and just to be clear,

I do not trust my OWN government either.

Never will until Harper is gone,

I've lived here 60 years,

Lost my pride in my own country steadily since Chretien left office.

IMO he was our last PM with "balls".

CC

[tinrobot]

56. I voluntarily post a select amount of data to Facebook.

The NSA takes data from every source it can - no volunteering.

Slight difference.

[DontTreadOnMe]

61. Do you volunteeer to get a Driver's License?

How about car insurance? How about highway tolls?

Do you volunteer to pay your taxes?

Please go on about your anti-government rant...

[KurtNYC]

60. Which logical fallacy is that ? Ad hominem?

B is true therefore don't worry about A being true (or else you are a paranoid narcissist).

And FB is does not have access to more data and private communications than NSA so 'B is false.'

3 logical fallacies in 3 sentences.

False dilemma
Incomplete comparison
Ad hominem

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies

[Thinkingabout]

52. How many know one half of a conversation may be recorded without the other side knowing it is

Being recorded? Now deal with that one.

[DeSwiss]

57. This is what I was waiting for.

Can you imagine the NSA being served as an ''interested party'' in a divorce proceeding?

''Um, I'll need Mr.Clapper to be available in our attorney's office to be deposed for the proceedings. How's next Thursday look for you?''

- Hahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!

K&R


The NSA says it has
added a ''Weiner filter''
to its database collection
process.

[nashville_brook]

58. k and r

[Release The Hounds]

59. .

[JoePhilly]

62. Wait, does this mean that some people will take advantage of

their position and do bad things?

I had no idea that could happen.

People never do such things.