Don’t panic, we are here to help you

In the latest revelation that “our” government considers everyone an enemy suspect, the Guardian reported that “…The National Security Agency is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of US customers of Verizon, one of America’s largest telecoms providers, under a top secret court order issued in April….The document shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of US citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk – regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing…”

Here is their link to the document ordering Verizon to comply

According to the order, the government has unlimited authority to ALL of Verizon customer’s communications including GPS position, phone number called, phone number received, and phone number dialed from for a full 3 months.

And by ALL, I mean “…The order, signed by Judge Roger Vinson, compels Verizon to produce to the NSA electronic copies of “all call detail records or ‘telephony metadata’ created by Verizon for communications between the United States and abroad” or “wholly within the United States, including local telephone calls“….

The fact that the content of the call is not revealed is of little use, since they know exactly WHO you called, WHEN you called, and WHERE you were when you called (or received a call).   Even Big Brother in 1984 didn’t have that capability!

And of course, we have the usual kill stroke in the order:

“…The court order expressly bars Verizon from disclosing to the public either the existence of the FBI’s request for its customers’ records, or the court order itself…”

The Guardian goes on to point out that “…Fisa court orders (the secret court that you and I have no knowledge of, sort of like the Wizard of Oz operating the hologram image of the “fake” wizard – don’t look behind that curtain!) typically direct the production of records pertaining to a specific named target who is suspected of being an agent of a terrorist group or foreign state, or a finite set of individually named targets….”

And for all you mobile phone users not under Verizon, pay attention to this tidbit from the news story:  “…It is not known whether Verizon is the only cell-phone provider to be targeted with such an order, although previous reporting has suggested the NSA has collected cell records from all major mobile networks. It is also unclear from the leaked document whether the three-month order was a one-off, or the latest in a series of similar orders….”

And finally, “…In the mid-1970s, Congress, for the first time, investigated the surveillance activities of the US government. Back then, the mandate of the NSA was that it would never direct its surveillance apparatus domestically.

At the conclusion of that investigation, Frank Church, the Democratic senator from Idaho who chaired the investigative committee, warned: “The NSA’s capability at any time could be turned around on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left, such is the capability to monitor everything: telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn’t matter…”

I submit that we all, whether we want to be or not, are now Emmanuel Goldstein and you are not a citizen, but a slave.  And to the more than 121 million Verizon customers I would say “Hasta la vista, baby”

Be sure to read all of the Inconvenient Truths and spread the truth…