NSA Used 1976 Robbery Case to Justify Spying


The National Security Agency has used a small robbery case as its justification for spying. The 1976 Baltimore case actually laid the legal grounds for today's global government surveillance. NSA has...
    






NSA Director Defends Spying Policy


The director of the NSA has said that there is no better methodology of getting the terrorists among us than to track the telephone calls of Americans. Though it was an invasion of privacy yet it was...
    






Former NSA official says agency collects Americans’ web data, director denies charges

Former NSA official says agency collects Americans' web dataThe NSA director, General Keith Alexander, is coming under scrutiny after he told a crowd gathered at the Def Con hacker conference that the spy agency "absolutely" does not collect data from and maintain files on American citizens. A former official stopped just shy of calling Alexander a liar, accusing him of playing a "word game." William Binney left the department in late 2001, when it became apparent to him that it planned to use the terrorist attacks on September 11th as an "excuse" to launch a data collection program that was already in the planning stages. Alexander for his part maintains that any data, be it web searches, Twitter posts or emails, collected from American citizens is merely incidental, and associated with intelligence gathering on foreign entities.

Of course, Binney rejects this claim and testimony from Qwest CEO James Nacchio regarding the NSA's wiretapping program would seem to contradict it. ACLU attorney Alex Abdo, who was on the panel with Alexander, cast further doubt on the director's denial. He noted that loopholes in the law allow the NSA collect vast amounts of information on Americans, without them being the "target" of the surveillance. Since the agency can hold on to any data collected, it can retroactively build dossiers on citizens, should they eventually become the focus of an investigation. For a few more details, hit up the source link.

Filed under:

Former NSA official says agency collects Americans' web data, director denies charges originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Jul 2012 14:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceWired  | Email this | Comments