They’re Coming For You…

This post may put my life in danger. It could very well put my name on the list of every government agency in this country. I’m about to talk about a very sensitive issue currently in the news in recent weeks. It involves the privacy of every American citizen and what the government was doing behind each and every one of our backs all in the name of keeping the U.S. safe. Based on this news, the government could be spying on my posts this very second and could consider my views on our government (which you know how I feel if you read my "About Me" post) an act of terrorism and cart me off as a terrorist. So, if I happen to disappear from the scene after this post, you know why.

All kidding aside, though, I know that everyone has heard of the man named Edward Snowden who was a former NSA contractor who claimed that the NSA was gathering information on American citizens by illegal and unconstitutional means. This information was being gathered through the internet by companies like Facebook, Google, YouTube, Microsoft, and Yahoo! just to name a few. This is not just some conspiracy theorist spreading fear off of some paranoid delusion either. It was confirmed by both the NSA and President Obama that the government had this capability. Of course, they denied that the program was used to spy on American citizens, but it was being used to spy on terrorist activity so they could keep the American public safe.

Well, I don’t know about you, but I never really believe half of what the government tells us is true. This news has me really concerned for the safety of our privacy. What scares me even more is that they say they’re doing this to protect us. Why does this sound like the plot for a conspiracy theory movie? Usually, whenever in the movies the government tells you they’re doing something for your own good, it usually is an outright lie. It is usually for the personal benefit of the ones in power. I think this is just a means of tightening the leash around the American public. It seems like more and more each day that the government is trying to limit the American people’s freedoms so they can better control us and take our attention off their abuse of power.

The program used to obtain this information from internet sources among others is called PRISM. It is a clandestine national security electronic surveillance program operated by the United States National Security Agency (NSA) since 2007. The name, PRISM, is actually a code name for a data-collection effort known officially by the SIGAD US-984XN. It originated back on September 11,2007 when President George W. Bush signed the Protect America Act of 2007. This allowed the NSA to start a massive domestic surveillance program. The program is operated under the supervision of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

So, what exactly is PRISM being used for? That is the real question we are faced with. Our government states that it is being used to gather information on foreigners outside the United States who have malicious intentions against us. They say it is for the safety of our country, and the information gathered will be used to fight terrorist plots against the U.S. In some ways, I guess I could see the benefit in that with the increase of hatred towards the United States. Terrorist acts like 9/11, the Boston Marathon Bombing, and other heinous acts against American citizens all over the world in the name of groups like al-Qaeda have shown us that we do have to prepare for such things to protect our citizens as well as our way of living. We learned that since 9/11 the world has become a more dangerous place, and no one was safe from the acts of terrorism. Is that, though, what the NSA is using PRISM for or is there a more nefarious purpose behind the program?

Edward Snowden accuses the NSA of using this program to gather information on U.S. citizens that have absolutely no connections to terrorism or with anyone outside the U.S. He revealed that the NSA could unilaterally access data and perform “extensive, in-depth surveillance on live communications and stored information” with examples including email, video and voice chat, videos, photos, voice-over-IP chats (such as Skype), file transfers, and social networking details. He summarized that “in general, the reality is this: if an NSA, FBI, CIA, DIA, etc analyst has access to query raw SIGINT (signals intelligence) databases, they can enter and get results for anything they want. Apparently, the analysts search PRISM data using terms intended to identify suspicious communications of targets whom the analysts suspect with at least 51 percent confidence to not be U.S. citizens, but in the process, communication of some U.S. citizens are also collected unintentionally.

This is a scary thought. The idea that the government could be peeking around what I do on the internet and could “misconstrue” it as acts of terrorism is frightening. I don’t feel as safe on the internet as I used to. It was bad enough when employers started spying on employees on the internet to determine whether they maintained the “company image” in their private lives as well as their professional lives. Now, we have to worry about “big brother” spying on us and using our own information against us. Are things really that bad in the world today? Do we have to give up so many freedoms for the sake of safety?

Another question that has came up during this chain of event is whether Edward Snowden is a hero or a traitor to his country. It’s been a huge debate among everyone across the country. Some think he went to far when he fled the country. They think that if he really thought his cause was just, he would have stayed in the country to make his case. Others think he has revealed sensitive information to possible enemies of our country and put it at risk. They say he is a traitor and should face the consequences. Others still look at him as a hero of the common man opening our eyes to what our government is really all about. Do you think he is a hero or a traitor? Leave your opinion in the comments below. I would love to hear other people’s take on this.

Before leaving your opinion, though, let’s look at some of the facts. He obviously didn’t do this for money. Before these events, he was living quite comfortably in Hawaii. Now, he’s stuck in a Russian airport with no luxuries whatsoever. What other possible things could have been his motivation to reveal this information to the public? It could be for fame, but would it really be worth all the trouble he’s in for his “sixty seconds” in the spotlight. He could be an actual terrorist looking to destabilize our country, but my question would be why does he try to appeal to American masses.

So, what is his real motivation? In my opinion, I think he wants to honestly inform the American people of what our government is up to and hold them accountable for their actions. Unfortunately, he has made a huge sacrifice in his life to make sure we knew this information. I consider him a hero to us and should be treated as such. He has opened our eyes (which we should have already known before this) to the deceptive approach our government has taken against their own people.It’s time we hold our government accountable for their criminal actions against our freedoms and way of life. Maybe they should have informed us of their activities to keep us safe from the beginning instead of going to the lengths they have to keep their activities off the radar. If they would have been more open and honest with the American people, we might have not been so suspicious of everything they do.

One of the reasons that I tend to believe Edward Snowden’s accusations is the claims by President Obama that one of his goals was to establish a transparent administration so the American people would know what they wanted to accomplish. Obviously, that was an outright lie. At first, they were denying that they were even capable of collecting such data. Only after Edward Snowden stepped forward did they have no choice but to tell the truth. Have they told the whole truth now? I don’t think so because they still say they can’t monitor individual citizen’s conversations (through phones, emails, text messages, social networks, etc.), information, and internet history among other things. How can we believe them after all the lies they have already told? There have been too many denials that have been proven untrue. Their track record is tainted.

Lets look at the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper. On March 12, 2013, during a hearing by the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, he testified that the NSA wasn’t collecting any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans. He then stated not wittingly. He said that there were cases where information could have inadvertently be collect, but not wittingly. What kind of political half answer is that? You’re not collecting information on Americans, yet you may have inadvertently but not wittingly. You either did or didn’t, end of debate.

Then, on June 6, 2013, Director Clapper released a statement admitting the NSA collects metadata on millions of American telephone calls. This data included originating and terminating telephone numbers, telephone calling card numbers, IMEI number, time and duration of phone calls, but did not include the name, address or financial information of any subscriber.

On June 7, 2013, in an interview on NBC, Clapper admitted that he didn’t tell the truth at the hearing. He stated that he had chosen “I thought was the most truthful or least most untruthful manner” when he testified.

On June 27, 2013, 26 senators sent him a complaint letter opposing the use of a “body of secret law”. On July 1, 2013, Clapper issued an apology, saying that “My response was clearly erroneous – for which I apologize.” On July 2, Clapper said that he had forgotten about the Patriot Act and therefore had given an “erroneous” answer.

That’s why I believe the government should stop their pursuit of Snowden and begin pursuing the one’s who were behind this cover up. They obviously had no intentions of letting Congress, foreign countries, or the American public know about these clandestine methods of espionage all in the name of “national security”.

Here are some of the reactions of members of Congress:

Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), member of Senate Intelligence Committee and past member of Homeland Security Committee

• June 11 “I had, along with Joe Lieberman, a monthly threat briefing, but I did not have access to this highly compartmentalized information” and “How can you ask when you don’t know the program exists?”

Representative Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), principal sponsor of the Patriot Act.

• June 9, “This is well beyond what the Patriot Act allows.” “President Obama’s claim that ‘this is the most transparent administration in history’ has once again proven false. In fact, it appears that no administration has ever peered more closely or intimately into the lives of innocent Americans.”

Senator Mark Udall (D-CO)

• June 9 “I don’t think the American public knows the extent or knew the extent to which they were being surveilled and their data was being collected.” “I think we ought to reopen the Patriot Act and put some limits on the amount of data that the National Security (Agency) is collecting.” “It ought to remain sacred, and there’s got to be a balance here. That is what I’m aiming for. Let’s have the debate, let’s be transparent, let’s open this up.”

Representative Todd Rokita (R-IN)

• June 10 “We have no idea when they (FISA) meet, we have no idea what their judgments are.”

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY)

• June 6 “When the Senate rushed through a last-minute extension of the FISA Amendments Act late last year, I insisted on a vote on my amendment (SA 3436) to require stronger protections on business records and prohibiting the kind of data-mining this case has revealed. Just last month, I introduced S. 1037, the Fourth Amendment Preservation and Protection Act.”
• June 9 “I’m going to be seeing if I can challenge this at the Supreme Court level. I’m going to be asking the Internet providers and all of the phone companies: ask your customers to join me in a class-action lawsuit.”

Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL)

• June 9 “We will be receiving secret briefings and we will be asking, I know I’m going to be asking to get more information. I want to make sure that what they’re doing is harvesting information that is necessary to keep us safe and not simply going into everybody’s private telephone conversations and Facebook and communications. I mean one of the, you know, the terrorists win when you debilitate freedom of expression and privacy.

Here are responses and involvement of other countries:

Austria

The former head of the office for the protection of the constitution, Rene Polli, stated he knew the PRISM program under a different name. He admitted there were surveillance activities in Austria as well. Already 2009 Polli said the U.S. agencies wanted to do things which did violate Austrian law, but Polli refused to allow such operations.

Australia

The Australian government has said it will investigate the impact of the PRISM program and the use of the Pine Gap surveillance facility on the privacy of Australian citizens.

Canada

Canada’s national cryptologic agency, the Communications Security Establishment, said that commenting on PRISM “would undermine CSE’s ability to carry out its mandate.” Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart lamented Canada’s standards when it comes to protecting personal online privacy stating “We have fallen to far behind” in her report. “While other nations’ data protection authorities have the legal power to make binding orders, levy hefty fines and take meaningful action in the event of serious data breaches, we are restricted to a ‘soft’ approach: persuasion, encouragement and, at the most, the potential to publish the names of transgressors in the public interest.” And, “when push comes to shove,” Stoddart wrote, “short of a costly and time-consuming court battle, we have no power to enforce our recommendations.”

Germany

Germany did not receive any raw PRISM data, according to a Reuters report. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that “the Internet is new to all of us” to explain the nature of the program; Matthew Schofield of McClatchy Washington Bureau said, “She was roundly mocked for that statement.” The former head of the Austrian office for the protection of the constitution, Rene Polli, stated he knew the PRISM program under a different name. Already 2009 Polli said the U.S. agencies wanted to do things which did violate Austrian law. Polli says it is therefore, “absurd and non-natural” should the Germans have not known anything.

Israel

Israeli newspaper Calcalist discussed the Business Insider article about the possible involvement of technologies from two secretive Israeli companies in the PRISM program – Verint Systems and Narus.

New Zealand

In New Zealand, University of Otago information science Associate Professor Hank Wolfe said that “under what was unofficially known as the Five Eyes Alliance, New Zealand and other governments, including the United States, Australia, Canada, and Britain, dealt with internal spying by saying they didn’t do it. But they have all the partners doing it for them and then they share all the information.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) has its own surveillance program Tempora, had access to the PRISM program on or before June 2010 and wrote 197 reports with it in 2012 alone. PRISM may have allowed GCHQ to circumvent the formal legal process required to seek personal material.

I think this whole matter is crazy. We’ve got to put a stop to the government spying on our lives. We, as American citizens, have a right to privacy which has countless times been violated for the sake of national security. Not every citizen is a suspected terrorist so stop treating us as such. If we can’t stop them here, how much further could this go? Do they start controlling what we eat, what we say, what we enjoy, what job we do? It scares me to think of the consequences of this slippery slope we’re going down. Where are the checks and balances for these actions? I think the people behind these programs should be held accountable. We need to bring them up on criminal charges of invading our privacy. We have to do something. We have to put our foot down and take action.

Anyways, I wanted to give you a little information on this political game of Where is Snowden (Waldo)? that has been in the news for the past few weeks. I hope it will open your eyes to what is going on around you and give you initiative to take part in what’s going on. I also want to warn you to be careful what you put on the internet these days because there’s no telling on who’s watching. We no longer live in the country of freedom, choice, and opportunity. We live in a country that gives you freedom when it doesn’t endanger national security or when it suites our leaders. Let’s stand up to this government and make it clear that we’re not going to take this anymore. We want what was promised to us when our forefathers drafted up the original constitution and Bill of Rights. Be active in your local community and stand up for what you believe in. If you don’t, be ready for the consequences. This program is only the tip of the iceberg of what’s to come if we don’t make a stand now. So, stand with me now, Americans, and say no more to our government. It’s time for a change.