OK so I assumed that there was a spy system in place a long time ago

[NNN0LHI]

Yea I did. Like 10 or 15 years ago. Maybe longer? I remember reading about it. Please don't ask for links this was before the internet. Its like a great big TIVO system for everything. They can punch your phone number in with set parameters and get a printout of everyone you ever talked to. If something looks interesting they can pull up the actual phone conversation and check for key words or whatever. Anyone else knew they had this? And Bush broke the law if he used it on us too. I also assumed he was going to use it on us. I never thought he would get caught though.

Don

[stillcool]

1. Yeah...

I remember something about high-tech secret complexes in remote areas of different countries with monstrous satellites set up for trapping data from other countries...who all signed an agreement to interpret each others data, so they wouldn't be breaking the laws of their perspective nations. Then again it could have been a dream...

[NNN0LHI]

15. Long time ago too. I am thinking this was all set up in early to mid 80's?

Bet I am close on that.

Don

[baldguy]

2. Crays' largest customer has always been the US intelligence community.

Once in a while you might see one of these ultrafast supercomputers, alone in a university or corporate setting. The NSA has dozens of multi-story office buildings full of them - row upon row upon row upon row.

[EFerrari]

3. Sorry, baldguy, who is Crays? n/t

[acmejack]

5. Cray builds super computers!

About Cray:
edit to add cray stuff & better link
Cray Inc. is a supercomputer manufacturer based in Seattle, Washington. Cray Research was founded in 1972 by computer designer Seymour Cray. Already a legend in his field by this time, Cray put his company on the map in 1976 with the release of the Cray-1 vector computer. Cray left to form his own company, Cray Computer Corporation, which went bankrupt in 1995, while Cray Research was bought by SGI the next year. Today's company was formed in 2000 by a merger of Tera Computer Company with Cray, which Tera purchased from SGI.

http://www.answers.com/topic/cray-computer-corporation

About the old spy stuff:

Echelon is a system used by the United States National Security Agency (NSA) to intercept and process international communications passing via communications satellites. It is one part of a global surveillance systems that is now over 50 years old. Other parts of the same system intercept messages from the Internet, from undersea cables, from radio transmissions, from secret equipment installed inside embassies, or use orbiting satellites to monitor signals anywhere on the earth's surface. The system includes stations run by Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, in addition to those operated by the United States. Although some Australian and British stations do the same job as America's Echelon sites, they are not necessarily called "Echelon" stations. But they all form part of the same integrated global network using the same equipment and methods to extract information and intelligence illicitly from millions of messages every day, all over the world.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/6/6929/1.html

[EFerrari]

7. Thank you. I've managed not to know that. n/t

[Angry Girl]

11. Rand's been awfully quiet these days

What have they been up to, I wonder?

[baldguy]

6. About Cray

As the global leader in supercomputers, purpose-built for high-performance computing (HPC), Cray Inc. provides innovative computing platforms that enable scientists and engineers in academia, government, and industry to meet both existing and future computational challenges.

Building on years of experience in designing and manufacturing the world’s most advanced computers, Cray delivers a portfolio of supercomputers that combine fast processors with high-bandwidth, low-latency interconnect technologies. This powerful combination creates a balanced system that delivers unparalleled sustained performance on a wide range of applications.

As high-performance computing needs have evolved, so have Cray's systems. The same real-world performance that defines Cray’s leadership in high-end supercomputing is also available in smaller systems that meet the expanding market for performance and value.

What Do You Need To Know?

Cray supercomputers provide superior sustained performance on critical applications, scalability to handle larger problems and the reliability to run jobs to completion. This gives scientists and engineers the ability to not only get answers faster but also allows a broad spectrum of users to ask new questions. Cray is dedicated to helping answer each user’s most difficult question—whether it be awe-inspiring questions that help predict the path of hurricanes and wildfires or a seemingly simple but important question of which design will be safer.

more:
http://www.cray.com/about_cray/index.html

[EFerrari]

8. Thanks. n/t

[JuniperLea]

4. Heck, my grandpa told me about that kind of stuff 20 years ago

Seems he got wind of it while building an air strip in Greenland... I used to think he was a little bit kooky, but so many things he told me are being verified right now.

He said "they" could listen through your phone, while it was on the hook. And "they" knew every telephone number you dialed or dialed into your phone. He said they were working on satellites that could read the newspaper sitting on your front porch. He said the moon landing was filmed in Death Valley, but the aliens found in Area 51 were real.

Kook? Or forward thinker? History will decide... and hopefully we will get the real deal eventually.

[EFerrari]

9. I wonder if we're outlaws, Juniperx. 20 years ago, my bro in law

built a com tower in Greenland. He was there for months, got special pay and basically manned the thing until it was completed. He wasn't into aliens at all though. :)

[KoKo]

10. OMG! What the hell is this? Have you gone over to "dark side" also?

What's this crap about "I always knew they were spying on us In fact I assumed it?"

:shrug:

[NNN0LHI]

12. Yes I have went to the dark side because I read the news decades ago

Have you ever considered getting a hobby? It might be a good thing?

Don

[KoKo]

13. Well...thats kind of a

nasty "fluff off." I should get a "hobby" because I replied to your post? Like I have nothing better to do? :shrug:

I've probably been reading the news as long as you have. :D

[EFerrari]

14. It's a little odd for you to be questioning the OP's stance

seeing that it is now national news. I don't understand how you are construing "dark side" maybe? :shrug:

/typo

[KoKo]

16. Don is one of DU's most informed posters...

so I was bowled over by his OP. There's so much out there about how Bush abused the system and how Repugs are trying to push it off on Clinton...that I found is post ...well...not like him? I didn't get where he was coming from.

AmericaBlog has many articles about NSA spying and Jason Leopold's piece on TruthOut ..while not nailed down in his first report had an Update. Even Google will show that the Bushes have "invented" and "changed" the orgiginal NSA surveillance. So...since Don is one of our most informed DU'ers I couldn't understand where he was coming from!

[EFerrari]

17. Got it. I expect we all will have our wigs restyled over and over

as this situation is revealed to us.

[XemaSab]

20. It's a serious question

Just because there's a big push to pin it all on Clinton doesn't mean that Clinton, Bush I, and Ray-Gun didn't do some of it.

ECHELON, Carnivore, the Clipper Chip....? There was something else too, no? Janet Reno comes to mind...

(Had h4x0r friends back in the day and they used to be on about this stuff)

[NNN0LHI]

19. Please accept my sincerest apology KoKo01

I forget sometimes that words can be like knives. I am really sorry and promise it will not happen again. Take care and see you later.

Don

[Elidor]

18. A reading of James Bamford's Puzzle Palace a long time ago

Convinced me of the same thing. The book was published before the internet really got off the ground, but from the way the NSA conducted itself regarding telegram and telephone communications, it was easy to imagine them scooping up all the elint they could get their hands on.

I have his newer book about the NSA, Body of Secrets, I think it's called, but I haven't read it yet. I would assume it addresses the attitude of the NSA toward email and internet communications.