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Top Secret Spying On Verizon Customers Authorized By Pensacola Federal Judge
June 6, 2013
The chairwoman of the US Senate Intelligence committee has said that the government has been collecting the telephone records of millions of US Verizon customers since 2006, and the order is a three-month renewal of a continuing practice.
The order was signed by federal Judge Roger Vinson who is based in Pensacola. He signed the order as part of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a U.S. Federal Court authorized in 1978. Vinson’s term on the court expired on May 18, 2013.
The collection of records was “on an ongoing daily basis,” beginning on April 25, 2013 and ending July 19, 2013, Dianne Feinstein, a Democratic Senator from California confirmed to reporters on Capitol Hill on Thursday. However, the practice may have been habitual for seven years prior to its exposure.
“As far as I know, this is the exact three-month renewal of what has been the case for the past seven years. This renewal is carried out by the [foreign intelligence surveillance] court under the business records section of the Patriot Act. Therefore, it is lawful. It has been briefed to Congress,” she told reporters.
Congress members were fully briefed and aware of the US’s intelligence gathering program, which included the collection of telephone records from Verizon, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed on Thursday.
The top secret order required Verizon, one of the largest telecom agencies in the US, to provide both the FBI and the NSA information on all telephone calls made through its systems, both domestically and to foreign countries. A copy was obtained by the Guardian and published on Wednesday.
According to a copy of the order, Verizon is required to disclose the numbers of both parties during a call, as well as location, call duration, and other unique data on an “ongoing, daily basis.” Meaning that, regardless of whether an individual is suspected of or linked to any crime, the data of all Verizon customers is currently being delivered in bulk to the intelligence agency.
Verizon did not confirm the existence of the top secret order. In a memo sent to employees on Thursday, they stated that they were forbidden “from revealing the order’s existence.”
The court order expressively forbid Verizon from disclosing the existence of any US government request for the company’s customer records, according to the original Guardian exclusive.
As to the authority claimed by the government via this order, that is specifically cited to fall under the “business records” provision of the PATRIOT Act of 2001, which was granted a four-year extension by President Obama in May of 2011.
Republican Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois, who questioned Holder about the program, aired concern on Thursday that that spy agencies might have retrieved the phone records of Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Pictured: The Verizon Wireless store in Atmore, Ala. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
[rt.com]
Comments
49 Responses to “Top Secret Spying On Verizon Customers Authorized By Pensacola Federal Judge”
REGARDING:
“If all this monitoring of citizen’s phone calls and Internet conversations are to protect us from terrorism….what happened in Boston, Bengazi and London???”
Obviously it failed to stop them. Still, the question is similar to the question,
“Why do we have police if people still commit crimes?”
Or
“Why do we have laws if people break them?”
Or
“What good is capital punishment if people still murder?”
Or
“What good is a military if there is still war?”
The general answer is, to keep it from being worse.
David for effective protection
If all this monitoring of citizen’s phone calls and Internet conversations are to protect us from terrorism….what happened in Boston, Bengazi and London???
Trying to fight terrorist by spying on Americans, and they will not secure our boarders, Now how stupid is that?????????????????
And while I am on my high horse , funny how the liberal news media is now having to face the fact that he can not be trusted New York Times, NBC, two I know of, Well we hear all this paranoid crap before the election, and they KNEW about it before the election, So I really want to know from the liberals, How can you call us paranoid??????? And Why will they not tell the truth. I DO NOT have a problem with keeping this nation safe,BUT under this current admintstation (spell wrong who cares) NO I do not trust them, Hey all they have to do is type in NRA member, concervitive Tea party, gun owner, christian, now we all know they would not do that don’t we?????????????????????If you think they are doing it its called paranoid, as in the IRS case , when you find out they are its called FACT.
Now that’s funny! LOL, really just minding our own busisness. now you will notice ole potus said they are not listing to our phone calls; but they are reading our e-mails , facebook. watching our videos, well we are just pum guilty till they prove we are innocent . Seems we the people , both sides of the political fence, are the new enemies of this great nation.I am not willing to pay this price so some jackass can claim they will make us safe, it is a dream. and a scam,
@Bob Hudson. We are locked in a war against international and domestic terrorist.
The Department of Homeland Security has been working hard to protect us. I hear people’s paranoid talk about wire tapping and the DHS purchase of one billion, eight hundred million rounds of ammunition, the plastic coffins at the FEMA relief camps.
You people are just plain paranoid. The Government is trying to keep you safe. Patriots like Secretary Janet Napolitano and former Sec Michael Chertoff have worked hard to set up a networked security apparatus to keep us safe from these militias and preppers, not to mention foreign terrorist.
Israel and America must continue to fight and win this United War on Terror.
OKAY, WHAT’VE YOU FOLKS BEEN DOING TO MAKE THEM SUSPICIOUS?
David for money well spent
Guess it is more important to spy on Americans than to find out who killed our 4 in the embassy , or find out what happened to all those guns that went in to Mexico. Yep good ol’e Potus, would not lie to us would he????????????
YOUR DAMN RIGHT WE BETTER WAKE UP, AND THAT GOES FOR EVERY AMERICAN IN THIS COUNTRY.NO MATTER WHICH SIDE OF THE FENCE YOU ARE ON
Some of you need to read your history…particularly that of Germany 1932-45…Italy in the 30s-40s…Russia under Stalin, Zimbawae under Maugbe, South Africa in the last ten years and China under Mao….OR, don’t take my advice and turn a blind eye to what YOUR government is doing and see where it
Gets you….don’t get fooled people! Wake up!
At what cost??? You want to give up your freedom to be safe? I sure as hell do not want to. Besides , with all the lying they are doing, how do you know they are telling the truth?????????????????????????????
Do we want to be 1 step ahead of the terrorists or not ?
Was never aware that Verizon was the phone of choice for Terrorists. Oh well some of the other vendors can’t make a call around the corner.
Lucky they don’t monitor facebook.
Oh wait….
Another sad thing is that a lot of this was known BEFORE the election! And they covered it up, This is truly disgusting, Wow head of IRS makes 157 trips to the white house and no one knows what they talked about, Some body is lying their butt off.
I do not believe any one should be spied on, no,one, but what amazes me a the one’s who where stupid enough to vote for him , will not admit how truly corrupt he is, and how he is trashing our right’s left and right.(no pun intended)I do not like liberals, but even they should not be a target of the federal government. for any reason, but I have read where some liberals think it was funny and should have been done to conservatives, so who is being two faced now?
This is basically the same as a wiretap on a land line, but it involves 98 million Verizon customers that are being monitored at will.. To wiretap a land line you need a warrant.. Our government has completely ignored the Constitution and due process..
How odd that the CROOKED IRS, would be in charge of enforcing Obamscare, There is another reason not to have it.
After 9/11 , we where ask what would we give up to feel safe; Well I said nothing, because no one can ever make you totally safe, give them and inch, and they will take a mile, People can make up any excuse to abuse power, Well my son just called from over sea’s, guess I’ll be on there list now,So the liberals did not like the way most Americans wish to handle our guns, so who is to say they are not spying on gun owners? Never thought they would target conservatives , or tea party members either did you? remember when the liberals said we where just being paranoid ? Well Well, The IRS even admitted they where, So who told them to?????Am I mad ? Hell yes I’m mad, At this current time I have no trust what so ever in our so called federal government.
Can you hear me now?
Geez, most folks on cell phones in public areas like restaurants or the mall or wherever talk so loudly you’d think they were using Great Granny’s wall mounted crank phone.
Worried about privacy, as we should be, tone down the voice volume. Not everybody wants to know what a jerk your boss is.
Lots of good comments in this discussion. A show of how important our First Amendment Rights are, Freedom of Speech and expression.
Thank god I dropped verizon and went to straightalk wireless
When I was active duty we used the Motorola STU III encrypted phones however I believe those are obsolete now?
I am not sure of the licensing requirements, but if you have the money you can purchase anything. I doubt if retailers outside the US worry much about who they sell to.
I would imagine the Cray Supercomputers at NSA can decipher most digital encryption.
Remember “Disaster comes by way of the mouth”
Mao Tse Tung
“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain pulling all the levers”. Big brother is large and in charge! All it took for Americans to give up their rights was 9/11 and now big brother can legally spy on or even kill Americans. Just declare them terrorists and send a predator after them. The Neo-cons pulled off their plan and America has become the Centurions for the new Roman Empire (Bloodline families).
What we should do is round up all the idiotic liberals who ruined California, and make them live in the state that they ruined, they are like cancer, destroy and move on to ruin another state,Colorodo comes to mind, But seems the good gun owning folks are going to recall there sorrow gun hating butts, never p—– off a law abiding gun owner,
So duke hates the 2nd amendment, figures
Well any of you die hard liberals wish to commit on what happen to our 4 killed in the embassy , or who is directing the IRS, , and who told Holder to collect All that news data, and what really did happen with fast and furious ? From what I am reading liberals seem pretty stupid when it comes to right and wrong, But go figure , most of them do not know what right and wrong is.But I hope who ever is pushing these agendas, (hint white house) is impeached, and serves jail time.
Let me clarify my earlier post: BOTH political parties are to blame. When Lindsey Graham (R) and Harry Reid (D) blow this issue off when asked by the media it tells you we have arrogant, self empowered politicians who have forgotten where their power comes from.
BOTH major parties should be regulated to the dust heap of history. Washington warned the nation in his farewell address to be weary of politicial parties and in our modern day we have seen the wisdom of his warning.
The federal government- whether you want to see it as Obama or the congress, has ZERO credibility when they get caught doing this sort of thing…couple this with the actions of the IRS (harassing tea party organizations and auditing Romney donors) and we have a government out of control.
They count on you to turn a blind eye (so do the bozos in local office). They want you to just go to work and school…your kids t ball games and “let them handle it”…then one day you will wake up and find the America you grew up in is not the nation you live in. Drones are watching fisherman fish for snapper in the Gulf, the Feds are tracking your phone calls and your emails and the IRS dares you to speak out. Does any person capable of abstract thought have a problem with this?
I support Senator Feinstein and Attorney General Holders position on this matter.
I feel that with all the neo-nazis and idiots with guns running around the country we need to keep an ear out for what is happening.
*blushes* oh my, well guys i hope you had your big boy eyes and ears on to share any of my private carrying ons, lol, just saying! might get a lil wyld round here!
oh yeah, if a Republican does it, its for the good of the country. IF a democrat does it, its socialism. Nothing worse than waking up to Joe Scarborough in the morning mouthing off then coming on here and reading idiots.
I’m keeping my landline. At least with it if the feds want to listen they have to get a warrant for MY indidual line, and they must show just cause. With wireless they just listen to everyone.
Amen to everything “Reality Bites” said.
Nothing that these awful over-reaching people do can trump our Constitutional rights. Everyone ought to have their little pocket copy because all of this just mentioned violates The Bill Of Rights–in Amendment IV.
Only idiots discuss business on the phone, best to speak face to face, in a safe place.
@Robert S, when your power down that cell phone, no GPS or tower triangulation.
867-5309. Jenny I’ve got your number…This should have been your first clue people
Obama said in a speech in 2007 that this was the kind of government intrusion that he would put a stop to. If Bush started it, why didn’t Obama live up to his word and stop this????
Big Brother Knows! It’s not just Verizon and it’s not a Dem or Repub thing. It’s everywhere, it’s everywhere! No reason to think any differently.
Amazing how many people blame Obama when this was passed in response to 9-11 and continued thru two Bush terms. The question that should be asked is who leaked this information. Some elements of national security are better off secret. Freedom isnt free and if this helps those in uniform and our country be a safer place so be it. The govt really doesnt care about 99.999 percent of this data. Now this tool has been exposed its effectiveness is compromosed…perhaps that was the goal of whoever leaked this info. Senior members of congress on both sides have know about this program for years and years.
This is hilarious. I love the comments that say, “oh no, this is the Democratic Party” or “we are becoming socialist, hopefully we can survive the next three years.” Are you people serious! Do you ever read anything or think before speaking? This program has been going on for years, since 2001 when President Bush enacted the Patriot Act. If you think this is a republican/democrat thing, you should grab a book, do some research.
Good news though, the conservative justices of the Supreme Court just ruled that a DNA sample can be taken without a warrant. Civil liberties!!!!!
We are well on are way to being a socialist country. People are to blinded by the light to see it. If we make threw the next three and half years it will be a miracle.
They tried doing that with T-Mobile, but all the calls kept getting dropped. So they went to Verizon
Think it stops with Verizon?
Shhhhhhh. Nothing to see here, folks; move along.
I’m glad I left Verizon Wireless and returned to good ‘ol SouthernLINC! I bet they lose some customers after this!!
On September 7 2012 I received a text on my cell phone. Asking for donation to keep Obama in office from http://www.2012Democrats.us I thought it was strange since I’m a registered republican. Now I know how they got my cell phone number.
He is a Republican, yet he is for the huge over reach of government spying on its own citizens without a warrant or any probable cause?
This should be very telling to the people of Pensacola…
This is another disgusting example of the regime using their jack booted thugs to kick in the doors of our civil liberties so that they can keep an eye on; not terrorists, but ordinary citizens…the government is paranoid as to it’s own people. Yet the mass of people are apathetic as to the dispicable actions of their leaders.
All of this is coming to light…now what will be done about it at the polls?
Anyone really surprised by this? If you carry a cell phone “Big Brother” knows where that cell phone is every moment of the day. May not be in your possession so be careful who you may loan it to in case someone is “Bad” and their movements are tracked to your phone.
Smile, we are ALL on Candid Camera.
No money for the Blue Angels to fly but Billions to track each and every one of us.
Oh, sorry gotta go, my cell is beeping and shows an UNKNOWN caller.
Well well well! The guy that ruled Obama Care unconstitutional is now authorizing secret recordings. Wonder what the Right wing extremist think of that? Besides I don’t know why the panhandle wouldn’t support Obama Care most are low income unemployed on gov subsistance already especially in the north part of the county. They could use a check up once in a while. Maybe get the gums brushed at the dentist too!
If Verizon charged the Government as much as they charge me then “HOLY CRAP!!”.
If the government obtained the degree of “service” I have received from Verizon, we have nothing to worry about.