FCC chief says won't probe NSA call program

[Robbien]

WASHINGTON, May 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission will not pursue complaints about a spy agency's access to millions of telephone records because it cannot obtain classified material, the FCC's chairman said in a letter released on Tuesday.

Rep. Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, had asked communications regulators to investigate a newspaper report that AT&T Inc. , Verizon Communications and BellSouth Corp. gave access to and turned over call records to help the National Security Agency fight terrorists.

"The classified nature of the NSA's activities makes us unable to investigate the alleged violations," FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said in the May 22 letter to Markey.

. . .

The five-member FCC oversees and regulates U.S. telecommunications. While technically independent, the commissioners are appointed by the president with no more than three from the political party controlling the White House. Martin, a Republican designated chairman last year, worked at the White House and for President George W. Bush's 2000 presidential campaign before joining the FCC in 2001 as a commissioner.

Section 222 of the 1934 Communications Act requires telecommunications carriers to protect the confidentiality of certain consumer call information, "except as required by law" or when the customer approves its release. Violators can be fined.

http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=governmentFilingsNews&storyID=2006-05-23T175222Z_01_N23187803_RTRIDST_0_SECURITY-TELECOMS-FCC.XML

[indypaul]

1. I am shocked, shocked. n/t

[Supersedeas]

5. Yea, me too.

[Cooley Hurd]

2. And the fascists all fall into line...

Sad... :(

[dbt]

3. "It's true. This man has no dick." n/t

[Ian David]

4. I say the word "Fuck" all the time on my cellphone...

If The NSA is, wiretaping, recording and re-broadcasting me saying the word "Fuck," then isn't The NSA guilty of broadcasting obscenity?

Maybe that's how to get 'em! They say naughty words!

:sarcasm:

[flashdebadge]

26. I don't think they hear you. From what i've read

the NSA was given phone records not recordings. I've never tried listening to my phone bill, but logic tells me that I wouldn't hear anything. Look, I'm totally against the phone company's giving our records to the NSA, which by the way I believe they did and are lying about it. But, making the leap from phone records to listening in on phone calls is a leap that my research has yet to reveal. Can you show me yours?

[tanyev]

6. Because if they do, all sorts of interesting information gleaned

from the monitoring of their phones will be revealed.

[magellan]

7. State Secrets trump democracy every time. (nt)

[peacebird]

18. can i get a copy of your graphic?

i want it to be my sig line graphic too.....

:hi:

[magellan]

22. Sure!

Tulsakatz made it a week or so ago and very kindly let me use it. Go ahead and grab a copy for yourself. :)

[peacebird]

23. thank you ! and thanks to Tulsakatz!

:hi:

:toast:

[UpInArms]

8. The Nature of a Secret Police

http://www.answers.com/topic/secret-police

Enforcement of the law has required, in nearly all societies, a certain amount of secrecy, particularly in the investigation of crime and the identification of what are often considered conspiracies. The emergence of a uniformed, clearly recognizable police force is of much more recent origin than secret bodies formed by governments for their protection from internal and external attack. In its wider meaning, the term secret police embraces all those members of any police force that operate, often out of uniform, without giving warning to the suspected criminal. Some countries have laws limiting the role of such secret police to investigation only, giving the indicted offender the right to an open trial and complete access to the evidence.

Wherever these interrelated conditions are not fulfilled, a secret police in the narrower sense of the term either exists or is in process of developing. This secret police is a body officially or in fact endowed with authority superior to other law-enforcing agencies. It investigates, apprehends, and sometimes even judges the suspect in secrecy, and is often accountable only to the executive branch of the government. In extreme cases such a secret police force may even have its own courts and prisons, and its activities are kept secret not only from the mass of the population but also from the legislative, judiciary, and executive authorities of the state, except at the topmost level.

...more...

:hide:

[Triana]

9. "Rep. Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat," ?!?!

Why is the fact that he's a Massachusetts Democrat relevant? Did anyone else notice this? What bu$h-supporting jockstrap mediawhore wrote this crap? Does anyone notice how these cretinous "journalists" put "Democrat" in the first or second paragraph of anything they write? Do they delineate Republicans in the same way? Nope. They refer to Repubs as "lawmakers" or "representatives". How telling. Daily KOS had something about this today and so now I've begun to notice this shiite. It's quite insidious.

As regards the rest of this -- in other words, the bu$hit admin refuses to allow any investigation into the culling of telephone subscribers personal data. That's what it comes down to.

[onenote]

10. chill .. this particular reporter uses that style for both parties

Here's a story he wrote a couple of months ago:


"With new competitors preparing to enter the ongoing race between cable and satellite, the law needs to change," said House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Joe Barton, a Texas Republican.

Telephone carriers have been pressing to get into the video business as the cable companies have been encroaching on the telephone and high-speed, broadband Internet service business.

The measure was also sponsored by Michigan Republican Rep. Fred Upton and Rep. Bobby Rush, an Illinois Democrat."


http://sg.news.yahoo.com/060328/3/3zooi.html

[Robbien]

12. Another thing to notice is that if the consultant from a RW firm

is being quoted, they never mention it is RW. AEI is introduced just as a prominant think tank. But anyone who is not RW is automatically introduced as a liberal.

[Kagemusha]

11. FCC won't investigate because the NSA program is s-e-c-r-e-t.

And because it's s-e-c-r-e-t we're not supposed to know about it.

What a relief.

[truthisfreedom]

13. pretzel logic. it's beyond catch-22... it's a brave new world.

we could see this coming years ago, and it's finally caught up with us. we have an organization, something that ultimately is designed to protect us, which has run amok and nobody and nothing can stop it. it's above examination, above reproach, above the Constitution, above oversight... and it's unAmerican as all hell.

[shadowknows69]

14. Um is there any question left in anyone's mind

on whether or not the NSA is the true "shadow government" that conspiracy kooks have talked about for years?

[sofa king]

15. AAAAAH!

Dicks! They're all dicks!

[Az_lefty]

16. fucking fascists!!!

how many times are they going to get away with this shit?
:banghead:

[Trillo]

17. If it's legal for the NSA to tap this information,

then why is it illegal for me to record all my own phone calls without advising the other party with the 15-second "beep -- beep -- beep" audible alert running?

[Evil Bush]

19. And the fox will not be investigating the henhouse incident, either

...

[rodeodance]

20. and the Justice Dept earlier said that they were not cleared either.

[NashVegas]

21. Sorry. No Boobies - No Investigation

That's pretty much how it is.

[Mr_Spock]

24. This is fucking ridiculous

This is so so so wrong.

Apparently we have the fox watching the hen house :(

[Ragin_mad]

25. Here is an interesting question

"Section 222 of the 1934 Communications Act requires telecommunications carriers to protect the confidentiality of certain consumer call information"


Exactly what information is required to remain confidential ?

[timber84]

27. I'm ashamed the FCC chief went to my High School

Sorry DU I hang my head in shame!

[LibDemAlways]

31. Hey, don't feel bad....

Sen. George Allen, (R-racist-VA) was in my HS graduating class. I feel your pain.

[Ian_rd]

28. Gov: "Enron, we are confiscating your records to prosecute you."

Enron: "You can't have them! Nya nya!"

Gov: "Ok, case closed."

[katinmn]

29. FCC chair Martin is just one of many Bush cronies

Repugs' strategy to put a crony (not an expert) in every single agency is paying off handsomely.

Martin, a Republican designated chairman last year, worked at the White House and for President George W. Bush's 2000 presidential campaign before joining the FCC in 2001 as a commissioner.

[onenote]

33. to be fair, that's an incomplete picture of Martin's background

Don't get me wrong. Martin is very well connected -- he worked on chimpy's legal team in Florida after the 2000 election and his wife works for Cheney. And I think he's been a disaster as FCC Chairman, but not because he's an unqualified "crony." Unlike Brownie and some others, Martin does have the proper credentials. He was an communications attorney at a major DC firm and served as a legal assistant to an FCC Commissioner in the late 90s. In many respects, he has better "qualifications" than any number of previous FCC Commissioners (or even current ones -- you can make the case that he has a better resume for the job than either of the Democratic Commissioners, who came from the Hill and were not significant players in the communications policy arena prior to their appointment). My problem with him is with his policy decisions, which reflect his ideology as much as his connections.

[suegeo]

30. ALL Republicans are flaming assholes

In addition to being a flaming asshole, Kevin seems like he also cannot find his ass with both hands.

[underpants]

32. I would use the word "Surreal" but I must either be succumbing to this

or just numb to it at this point.

Simply amazing.

[Supersedeas]

36. it's as if they have tied their own hands and would rather no struggle to

get loose

[IceOwl]

34. Not surprising...

If you ask the Mafia to expose their ranks, do you think they'll just do it?

I think if the government doesn't want to obey the law, then it's time for citizens to uphold it, by breaking the laws that protect the government.

[canichelouis]

35. I wonder where Michael Powell is in all of this

and how he would be reacting now.

[mvd]

37. This is bull, but par for the course

More reason to get excited about a Democratic victory this fall - it's the only way some accountability might come out.