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madfloridian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 12:13 PM
Original message
Tomorrow's FISA vote means government can keep spying even if court says no.
Edited on Tue Jun-24-08 12:22 PM by madfloridian
That is what this bill is about. It means giving more powers to spy. It is not just about immunity.

I wonder if they are using this immunity thing to lull us into not paying attention to just how bad the bill is?

Why are they doing this now? They figure we are all excited about our candidate and that we will stay on board no matter what they do.

House Approves Unconstitutional Surveillance Legislation

Tomorrow the Senate will approve it as well.

"It’s Christmas morning at the White House thanks to this vote. The House just wrapped up some expensive gifts for the administration and their buddies at the phone companies. Watching the House fall to scare tactics and political maneuvering is especially infuriating given the way it stood up to pressure from the president on this same issue just months ago. In March we thought the House leadership had finally grown a backbone by rejecting the Senate’s FISA bill. Now we know they will not stand up for the Constitution.

"No matter how often the opposition calls this bill a ‘compromise,’ it is not a meaningful compromise, except of our constitutional rights. The bill allows for mass, untargeted and unwarranted surveillance of all communications coming in to and out of the United States. The courts’ role is superficial at best, as the government can continue spying on our communications even after the FISA court has objected. Democratic leaders turned what should have been an easy FISA fix into the wholesale giveaway of our Fourth Amendment rights.

"More than two years after the president’s domestic spying was revealed in the pages of the New York Times, Congress’ fury and shock has dissipated to an obedient whimper.
After scrambling for years to cover their tracks, the phone companies and the administration are almost there. This immunity provision will effectively destroy Americans’ chance to have their deserved day in court and will kill any possibility of learning the extent of the administration’s lawless actions. The House should be ashamed of itself. The fate of the Fourth Amendment is now in the Senate’s hands. We can only hope senators will show more courage than their colleagues in the House."

For more information, go to:
www.aclu.org/fisa


More about the failings of the bill.

H.R. 6304, The FISA AMENDMENTS ACT of 2008

This is only a portion:

H.R.6304 contains an “exigent” circumstance loophole that thwarts the prior judicial review requirement. The bill permits the government to start a spying program and wait to go to court for up to 7 days every time “intelligence important to the national security of the US may be lost or not timely acquired.” By definition, court applications take time and will delay the collection of information. It is highly unlikely there is a situation where this exception doesn’t swallow the rule.

H.R. 6304 further trivializes court review by explicitly permitting the government to continue surveillance programs even if the application is denied by the court. The government has the authority to wiretap through the entire appeals process, and then keep and use whatever it gathered in the meantime.

• H.R. 6304 ensures the dismissal of all cases pending against the telecommunication companies that facilitated the warrantless wiretapping programs over the last 7 years. The test in the bill is not whether the government certifications were actually legal – only whether they were issued. Because it is public knowledge that they were, all the cases seeking to find out what these companies and the government did with our communications will be killed.

Members of Congress not on Judiciary or Intelligence Committees are NOT guaranteed access to reports from the Attorney General, Director of National Intelligence, and Inspector General.


Since last August 58 Democrats in the House switched their votes from NO to YES. That is a lot of Democrats.

Why did 58 Democrats flip on FISA from NO to YES since last year?

Not just a drip drip...it's a flood.

FISA
2007 total: 227 aye - 183 no - 23 NV
Dems in 2007: 41 aye - 181 no - 9 NV
GOP in 2007: 186 aye - 2 no - 14 NV
2008 total: 293 aye - 129 no - 13 NV
Dems in 2008: 105 aye - 128 no - 3 NV
GOP in 2008: 188 aye - 1 no - 10 NV


Here are the 58 who switched from NO to YES.

58 who flipped from no to aye (i.e. good to bad): Gary Ackerman, Mike Arcuri, Joe Baca, Brian Baird, Shelly Berkley, Howard Berman, Marion Berry, Sanford Bishop, Tim Bishop, Rick Boucher, Nancy Boyda, Corrine Brown, GK Butterfield, Dennis Cardoza, Kathy Castor, Emanuel Cleaver, Jim Clyburn, Joe Crowley, Norm Dicks, Rahm Emanuel, Eliot Engel, Gabby Giffords, Kirsten Gillibrand, Al Green, Gene Green, Luis Gutierrez, Jane Harman, Tim Holden, Paul Kanjorski, Dale Kildee, Ron Kind, Jim Langevin, Nita Lowey, Tim Mahoney, Carolyn McCarthy, Jerry McNerney, Greg Meeks, Dennis Moore, John Murtha, Solomon Ortiz, Nancy Pelosi, Ed Perlmutter, Nick Rahall, Silvestre Reyes, Dutch Ruppersberger, Adam Schiff, David Scott, Joe Sestak, Brad Sherman, Albio Sires, Adam Smith, John Spratt, Bart Stupak, Ellen Tauscher, Bennie Thompson, Mark Udall, John Yarmuth


Yeh, I know...we will never know the answers. We are just expected to stay on board, fall in line, and not ask questions. Just like always. As we probably will, even as our constitution is battered by Congress.

:shrug:

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cliffordu Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 12:16 PM
Response to Original message
1. I don't know WTF these idjits are doing, unless there was a need
to get this thing into the Senate to kill it permanently...

Oh, wait - that would take actual planning!!!

Nevermind!!

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kentuck Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 12:18 PM
Response to Original message
2. But it's time for a summer vacation.
What do you think is more important? Staying around Washington and voting on a silly little bill like the FISA or getting the hell out of town and heading for the islands with the family? Can you say Margaritaville?
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clevbot Donating Member (357 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 12:19 PM
Response to Original message
3. I'm suprised by the amount of 'democrats' that don't see this as a big deal.
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madfloridian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 12:38 PM
Response to Reply #3
4. It is a big deal.
And the biggest question of all is why? Why are they doing this to us?
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NorthCarolina Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 12:46 PM
Response to Reply #4
5. If they're not a part of the "solution"
then obviously they are part of the "problem". It's the Blue Dogs and DLC'ers that keep us scratching our heads and wondering why the hell this Democratic Congress keeps supporting GOP legislation such as FISA with or without immunity, or the bankruptcy bill, etc.
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PassingFair Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 06:59 PM
Response to Reply #4
27. Data-mining.
It's cheap, it's easy, and
it's ADDICTIVE.

They cannot live without it now.
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madfloridian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 10:36 PM
Response to Reply #27
33. I had not looked at it that way.
You may be right.
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PassingFair Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-25-08 07:36 AM
Response to Reply #33
36. Everything is run through their filter.
Edited on Wed Jun-25-08 07:36 AM by PassingFair
I don't believe that they are listening to
individual conversations to a great degree.

They are searching for word usage and patterns.

They will NOT stop doing this.

I don't think I'm donning a tinfoil cap here,
either, the whistle blowers related that entire
data streams, cable and phone lines, are being
split off to the government.
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QueenOfCalifornia Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 12:52 PM
Response to Original message
6. According to the majority here
Edited on Tue Jun-24-08 01:06 PM by Gilligan
they don't give a shit about this issue. Just stfu and be a good little voter and do not upset the delicate balance between us and the neocons. Fuck this. I am really angry about this and every American should be pissed off. Every single soldier that has died to protect our freedoms are rolling in their graves.

But do not upset the Grand Old Phucks.

I am Kicking this and recommending this OP.

:kick:

(edit to detypoize this post)
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madfloridian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 12:53 PM
Response to Reply #6
7. Our military fights to preserve the rights our Congress is giving away
You are right.
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sourmilk Donating Member (512 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 12:59 PM
Response to Original message
8. There is simply NO NEED for this bill.
They were illegally spying on USAmericans and foreign nationals calling USAmericans BEFORE 9-11. Did it help ANY?
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madfloridian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 01:01 PM
Response to Reply #8
9. But But...they just made it legal to do it. And said it would stop them from doing it.
And my head is spinning from the propaganda by our own party.
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midnight Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 01:19 PM
Response to Reply #8
14. I guess this point is so true that it has been overlooked.
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Marie26 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 01:03 PM
Response to Original message
10. Has there been any coverage of this at all on TV news?
Excepting Olbermann? There's newspaper articles & blogs, etc. but oddly enough the television news stations seem very quiet on the issue.
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madfloridian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 01:05 PM
Response to Reply #10
11. It's too complicated for them to understand.
:shrug:
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midnight Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 01:18 PM
Response to Original message
12. What is the Democratic Presidential Candidate doing to
fillibuster this?
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QueenOfCalifornia Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 01:21 PM
Response to Reply #12
15. He does not have to come out
FOR it.

He is FOR the bill. See????
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Thrill Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 01:19 PM
Response to Original message
13. Why is this even allowed to come up for a vote? More Proof that we need new leaders in the Senate
and the House.
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rudy23 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 01:37 PM
Response to Original message
16. If the elites in our government want warrantless searches, and most of the American people want it
who do we expect to drive Congress to vote against this?

The only people who care about the Constitution any more are idealists, and we are the shit on the bottom of their shoes. We have neither the money, nor the votes to do this. Are they really going to respond to anything besides money and votes?

Our country is currently a sham.
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madfloridian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 01:41 PM
Response to Reply #16
17. Could you show me a poll saying that about the American people?
Edited on Tue Jun-24-08 01:42 PM by madfloridian
Who said most of them approve of these searches?
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gkhouston Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 01:42 PM
Response to Original message
18. I think it's going to mean even more than that.
I suspect the retroactive immunity for telecoms bit is a first step towards retroactive immunity for the folks who have been torturing for the Bush Administration. If they're this worried about being investigated for illegal wiretapping, they must be frantic about the possibility of being investigated for war crimes. Once this rancid piece of legislation passes, they can use it as a precedent. :puke:
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madfloridian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 02:26 PM
Response to Reply #18
20. They will all get away with all of the evils our country has done the last 8 years.
Even the ones who just "knew" about it and said nothing.

I just feel so sad inside today that our party is selling our rights out and demanding we stay on board as they do it.

It's a lost kind of feeling.

Why?
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madfloridian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 02:13 PM
Response to Original message
19. It's ok if Democrats do it to us.
It's ok if they bring it to a vote when they don't have to do so.

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slipslidingaway Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 02:36 PM
Response to Original message
21. Thanks K&R ! n/t
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slipslidingaway Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 02:46 PM
Response to Original message
22. Greenwald - The New Republic syndrome
Be sure to watch the video of Feingold on the immunity question and how it is taking attention away from the larger issue.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/06/23/tnr/index.html

"...Hence: vast new warrantless eavesdropping powers -- with no connection to Terrorism -- are being vested in the President? His and the largest corporations' deliberate lawbreaking is being concealed and forever excused? All of that is being done by Democrats? Anyone who thinks that's worth getting worked up over -- just like anyone who got worked up over other reasonable, good faith policy disputes such as the Iraq War, pre-war lying, torture, Joe Lieberman -- are a bunch of shrill hysterics who "need to have their heads examined."

Good, smart, adult Democrats -- like the sober, Serious geniuses at The New Republic who have been so right for so long, and like Steny Hoyer -- understand that these matters are very complex and difficult and it's best if the Right not be opposed with too much vigor, if they should be opposed at all. It's precisely that mindset, and those who are guided by it, which needs to be targeted if the guaranteed Democratic majority is to mean anything other than an endless perpetuation of The New Republic Syndrome..."

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madfloridian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 01:01 AM
Response to Reply #22
37. Good name for the syndrome.
:hi:
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slipslidingaway Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 12:12 PM
Response to Reply #37
44. Yes and thanks for all the FISA threads...
:hi:



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madfloridian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 02:51 PM
Response to Original message
23. Question Obama's motives....listen to what his advisor said.
"It still remains to be seen what Barack Obama will do. I was just on a conference call with Obama foreign policy advisor Dennis McDonough. The Huffington Post's Scott Bellows asked about Obama's abandonment of his rhetoric vowing to defend the Constitution in order to support this bill, and McDonough adopted the Hoyer line, claiming that this bill has all sorts of great oversight protections including the requirement that the Inspector General submit a report on Bush's spying program (audio is here). That's what now passes for oversight in our Government -- the Executive branch investigates itself when it comes to allegations of criminality. Whatever else is true, there's just no getting around the fact that Obama -- when seeking the nomination -- vowed to support a filibuster of any bill that contains telecom immunity, and his failure to do that here will be a patent breach of that commitment. There's still time for him to adhere to that promise."

Question it...why?

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/06/24/hoyer/index.html

Why is our nominee parroting the Hoyer talking points.
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madfloridian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 03:06 PM
Response to Reply #23
24. They are all falling in line.
Just as we must do as the constitution is damaged.

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madfloridian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 04:52 PM
Response to Original message
25. Kit Bond: "the White House got a better deal than even they had hoped to get.”
Edited on Tue Jun-24-08 04:52 PM by madfloridian
"Call it a “supercave,” in fact, if Kit Bond likes it this much:

“I think the White House got a better deal than they even they had hoped to get.”


http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/2255
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dailykoff Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 06:57 PM
Response to Original message
26. I think you are right about the Telco immunity.
It's a red herring. Even if they strip it out Chimp will be more than happy to legalize his own crimes.
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madfloridian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 07:00 PM
Response to Original message
28. Dems who flipped on FISA get more cash from telecoms.
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Marie26 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 07:07 PM
Response to Reply #28
29. For $8,359???
I'm vaguely insulted that they sell out so cheap. I mean, if they sold out for a million dollars, that'd at least make sense. But this makes it sound like Const. rights wouldn't beat a really good dinner.
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madfloridian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 08:14 PM
Response to Reply #29
30. Well, most here sound ok with it.
That it is ok to do it.
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Marie26 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 08:56 PM
Response to Reply #30
31. I don't think that's true.
Maybe there's some spin, but it's sort of heartening to see how many people care - even if our politicians don't.
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madfloridian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 09:05 PM
Response to Reply #31
32. I see that the post advocating not fighting back....
has 52 recommends. This one has far fewer. Way fewer.

Which tells me that that vast majority here will not bother to call at all about it.

And things will be done just as they have been done.
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Zodiak Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 11:30 PM
Response to Reply #32
35. You are looking too deeply into hoakie DU statistics
Do not let a few recs of that thread dissuade you. There is a real sense of desperation amongst DUers...they are shell-shocked from all of the election thefts and have become risk averse and paranoid of what Republicans might say about our nominee

And remember that some good discussion occurred on that thread, as well, so some of those recs could have just come from a lively debate.

Watch the Senate....things are moving in our direction a bit. We are being heard. I wrote my Senators again, as I had Obama, Dodd, Feingold, Reid before. This was supposed to be a slam dunk and now there are roadblocks. The fight is not over yet.

Sometimes we have to forge through despite the fact that a contingent of our team huddles in the corner like geese. There is no such thing as change from the moderate, "status quo", and centrist wing of the party and it is about time we reasserted this.

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NorthCarolina Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 12:25 PM
Response to Reply #28
46. I think it has more to do with preventing the pending lawsuits from going to trial
and implicating not only Bush officials, but Congressional leaders as well. I'm quite sure the Bush folks were savvy enough to make sure to put into place some measure of "complicity" amongst the feeble minded (like Pelosi and others) in Congress so that if the shit hit the fan (as it has) they could pressure these same folks that "Hey, if we go down, you go down with us".

These folks in DC that are supporting this legislation know full well that there could be a political price to pay down the line as it is VERY unpopular with their constituents. Obviously, they are very concerned about something that eclipses even the continued viability of their political careers. My guess is "immunity" isn't just for the telecom companies, that's just the part that's meant for "public consumption".
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latebloomer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-24-08 10:59 PM
Response to Original message
34. K&R
Very disturbing, but not surprising.
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Torn_Scorned_Ignored Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 07:58 AM
Response to Original message
38. * l *
Data = phone, email, internet traffic, VOI.

Cable Broadband-Cable TV, DSL-Satellite TV.

ISP, dial-up, DSL, Cable Modem, Wireless.

Everything is inter-connected.

It is all being caught.

NAB, National Association of Broadcasters.

Telecom Immunity is a Red Herring.

:kick:
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L. Coyote Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 08:13 AM
Response to Original message
39. Once routed overseas, spying on Dems is perfectly legal!!
ALL COMMUNICATIONS routed overseas to circumvent US law and the Constitution

Once they legalize the placement of splitters to copy the entire fiber optic communication stream,
how do you control this abuse? Once routed overseas, spying on Dems is perfectly legal!!

=========
Deja DU: Are ALL COMMUNICATIONS routed overseas to circumvent US law and the Constitution?
Nov-09-07 - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2245762

I was told years ago that ALL fiber optic communication traffic was routed overseas so that "everything" was moved outside the protections of the law and Constitution and ANYTHING could be monitored. I thought the idea quite fantastic even though it came from a very reliable source that would know exactly such things. Then, the story of the fiber optic splitters hit my radar. I now see now how easily exactly that, routing ALL COMMUNICATIONS overseas, was accomplished.

Is that Bush's and the Telecom's HUGE crime hidden and covered-up behind this story?

If the telecoms get immunity, will it aid in covering up Bush's crime.
ABSOLUTELY! That is why it is so important to the Rs! Support = obstruction of justice.

Have we arrived at the point in the history of the Bushco junta where
laws passed and people nominated are part of crimes of obstructing justice?

===================
AT&T Whistleblower: Telecom Immunity Is A Cover-Up
By Spencer Ackerman - Nov 7, 2007
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004662.php


Earlier today we flagged that Mark Klein, who uncovered a secret surveillance room run by the NSA while employed as a San Francisco-based technician for AT&T, is in Washington to lobby against granting retroactive legal immunity to telecommunications companies. In an interview this afternoon, Klein explained why he traveled all the way from San Francisco to lobby Senators about the issue: if the immunity provision passes, Americans may never know how extensive the surveillance program was -- or how deeply their privacy may have been invaded.

"The president has not presented this truthfully," said Klein, a 62-year old retiree. "He said it was about a few people making calls to the Mideast. But I know this physical equipment. It copies everything. There's no selection of anything, at all -- the splitter copies entire data streams from the internet, phone conversations, e-mail, web-browsing. Everything."

What Klein unearthed -- you can read it here -- points to a nearly unbounded surveillance program. Its very location in San Francisco suggests that the program was "massively domestic" in its focus, he said. "If they really meant what they say about only wanting international stuff, you wouldn't want it in San Francisco or Atlanta. You'd want to be closer to the border where the lines come in from the ocean so you pick up international calls. You only do it in San Francisco if you want domestic stuff. The location of this stuff contradicts their story .....

=======================
NSA Monitors All Web Traffic, Says Ex-AT&T Employee

NSA Monitors All Web Traffic, Says Ex-AT&T Employee
Tom Corelis (Blog) - Nov 10, 2007
http://www.dailytech.com/NSA+Monitors+All+Web+Traffic+Says+ExATT+Employee/article9620.htm


Felt "forced to the connect the Big Brother Machine" if he wanted to keep his job

Mark Klein, the former AT&T technician and whistleblower who helped kick off the AT&T/NSA eavesdropping scandal, clarified further details regarding what he witnessed while connecting a secret NSA eavesdropping facility: secure room 641A in AT&T’s San Francisco switching center, presumably commissioned by the NSA, received copies of all the traffic its splitters were connected to, including both international and domestic e-mails, web traffic, and phone calls, both from AT&T’s customers as well as other providers.

Previous statements by the government, AT&T and President Bush indicated that the only affected communications are communications relevant to national security, like those of suspected terrorists and suspicious foreign nationals. According to Klein, however, the technology used to connect the secure room was far more democratic, consisting of simple, dumb splitters incapable of any kind of contextual filtering: essentially, room 641A received “a duplicate of every fiber-optic signal routed through facilities.”

Klein, appearing on MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann show, told viewers about his personal association with secure room 641A. “When I was a technician, I had the engineering/wiring documents, which told me how the splitter was wired to the secret room … I had to know in order to do my job,” he said, “so I know that whatever went across those cables was copied; the entire datastream was copied into the secret room.”

Referring to the equipment itself, Klein states, “the splitter device has no selective capability, it just copies everything. .............

=======================
Interview: AT&T Whistleblower Mark Klein on Bush's Illegal Surveillance and Retroactive Immunity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0dJJhLueEg

=======================
NSA Pressured LA Times To Kill Domestic Spying Story
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOI1VGKcgGY

=======================
November 5th, 2007
AT&T Whistleblower to Urge Senate to Reject Blanket Immunity for Telecoms
Press Conference on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, November 7
http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2007/11/05

Washington, D.C. - On Wednesday, November 7, at 10:30am, telecommunications technician and AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein will speak out at a press conference on Capitol Hill, explaining why he is asking lawmakers to reject immunity for telecoms who assisted the Bush administration's spying on millions of Americans.

Klein witnessed first-hand the technology AT&T built to assist the government's domestic warrantless wiretapping program at AT&T's main switching facility in San Francisco. As part of his job at AT&T, Klein connected high-speed fiber optic cables to sophisticated equipment that intercepted communications from AT&T customers and then copied and routed every single one to a room controlled by the National Security Agency (NSA). Klein has provided evidence for the Electronic Frontier Foundation's (EFF's) class-action lawsuit against AT&T for its role in the illegal spying.

"My job required me to enable the physical connections between AT&T customers' Internet communications and the NSA's illegal, wholesale copying machine for domestic emails, Internet phone conversations, web surfing and all other Internet traffic. I have first-hand knowledge of the clandestine collaboration between one giant telecommunications company, AT&T, and the National Security Agency to facilitate the most comprehensive illegal domestic spying program in history," said Klein.

Also speaking at the event Wednesday ...........

=======================
Judge Orders Telecommunications Companies to Preserve Evidence in Government Surveillance Cases
Ruling Advances EFF's Class-action Lawsuit Against AT&T
http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2007/11/06


San Francisco - A federal judge today ruled on a preservation motion filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), ordering that telecommunications companies must preserve any evidence of collaborating with the government in illegal spying on ordinary Americans.

In his ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker ordered the telecommunications companies to halt any routine destruction of documents or to arrange for the preservation of accurate copies. On December 14, each party must provide the court with confirmation that the court's order has been carried out. The court order did not require the government or the carriers to reveal whether or not they had any relevant evidence.

The government and the carriers had opposed the preservation motion, claiming that the government's invocation of the state secrets privilege made it impossible to proceed with a preservation order. In litigation, parties are typically required to preserve all relevant evidence.

For the judge's order:
http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/att/393%20order.pdf

For more on the class-action lawsuit against AT&T:
http://www.eff.org/cases/att

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Jakes Progress Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 08:25 AM
Response to Reply #39
40. Rather than listen to our concerns,
our nominee is now tossing us under the bus. In the general election, we on the internet and people like the ACLU are seen as wide-eyed kooks. It may just be that the folding on FISA is a deliberate play to show the righties that he is not beholden to us crazies. First it was the church that gave him his political base. Now it is the net workers who actually put him in over Hillary. In between it was any one or any thing that might stand in his way. Got to hand it to him. Masterful bit of Machiavelli.
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L. Coyote Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 08:50 AM
Response to Reply #40
42. "we on the internet" is most of the population!! Speak for yourself,
but I don't view people on the Internet as crazies. Everyone I know, practically, is on the Internet.

What a twisted and tortured analysis! You could not be further off base, and you echo freeper talking points.
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Jakes Progress Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 12:23 PM
Response to Reply #42
45. I was speaking in agreement with your analysis.
But I see now that you don't read well, nor are you well informed.

Most people aren't on the internet. You don't know most people. It is myopic and ego centric to believe that just because you don't know someone, they don't exist. The largest portion of those who do access it do so for email and you tube. And again, if you read the post, you will see that I said the active internet community (like here) are viewed by the general public as crazies. They think that way because their media of choice, the television, tells them we are. Hence this quote regarding Obama's flip flop: "I applaud it," a senior Democratic lawmaker said. "By standing up to MoveOn.org and the ACLU, he's showing, I think, maybe the first example of demonstrating his ability to move to the center. He's got to make the center comfortable with him. He can't win if the center isn't comfortable."

This "twisted and tortured analysis" far from being freeper in nature is echoed in pieces by members of the Century Foundation (check out the latest on Slate). Now freeper talking points would be saying that we must immunize the telecoms to protect our freedom - which is Obama's reasoning for voting for the bill.

Again, I think your rant on me is more the result of your not reading my post with any skill and then popping off when you thought you had been insulted.
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madfloridian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-29-08 01:51 PM
Response to Reply #39
49. Good point about routing overseas to bypass laws...More from Klein
""The president has not presented this truthfully," said Klein, a 62-year old retiree. "He said it was about a few people making calls to the Mideast. But I know this physical equipment. It copies everything. There's no selection of anything, at all -- the splitter copies entire data streams from the internet, phone conversations, e-mail, web-browsing. Everything."


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Jakes Progress Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 08:47 AM
Response to Original message
41. Here is a Slate column
to add to the Greenwald's wonderful work.

http://www.slate.com/id/2194254/

All this reminds me of a poem from an old Mitchell Trio album.

"Should i Write a Letter To My Congressman

Every congressman has two ends,
A thinking end and a sitting end.
And since a congressman's entire career depends on his seat,
Why bother, friend."
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madfloridian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-28-08 11:35 AM
Response to Reply #41
48. That is exactly why I don't call Bill Nelson anymore.
His thinking end doesn't work.
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Catherina Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 09:11 AM
Response to Original message
43. Too late to recommend. Thanks MF n/t
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madfloridian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-27-08 09:57 PM
Response to Original message
47. FISA is a serious bill. It is gutting the 4th amendment.
.
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johnaries Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-29-08 02:13 PM
Response to Original message
50. Wait a minute, weren't all or most of those provisions in the original
FISA Bill?

Am I missing something? The original intent of Republicans for this bill was to weaken FISA. Because this bill reaffirms the original FISA court proceedings it looks to me like they failed. :shrug:
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