May 12, 2006
They tapped my cell and the phone in the basementNews
As most of you surely know, USA TODAY broke the story yesterday that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been sifting through all of our phone records in order to see if they can establish “patterns” of terrorist activity. This post serves as a follow-up to my post last December.
The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.
The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren’t suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews…“It’s the largest database ever assembled in the world,” said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA’s activities, declined to be identified by name or affiliation. The agency’s goal is “to create a database of every call ever made” within the nation’s borders, this person added. [Link]
The ACLU, which defends our civil liberties, was not happy:
“Both the attorney general and the president have lied to the American people about the scope and nature of the NSA’s program,” said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. “It’s clearly not focused on international calls and clearly not just focused on terrorists… . It’s like adding more hay on the haystack to find that one needle.” [Link]
Oh, and by the way, did you guys know:
One government lawyer who has participated in negotiations with telecommunications providers said the Bush administration has argued that a company can turn over its entire database of customer records — and even the stored content of calls and e-mails — because customers “have consented to that” when they establish accounts. The fine print of many telephone and Internet service contracts includes catchall provisions, the lawyer said, authorizing the company to disclose such records to protect public safety or national security, or in compliance with a lawful government request. [Link]
I for one defend President Bush’s data mining program wholeheartedly. A person who cares about and is entrusted to maintain the security and success of ANY institution the way George W. Bush obviously cares for the United States of America, is expected, nay…duty-bound I should say, to keep track of their “organization.” If you guys disagree with this view then you obviously don’t understand the fact that with great power comes great responsibility.
My tremendous sense of responsibility is the very reason that I have been data mining and tapping the telephone calls of my fellow-bloggers here in our North Dakota headquarters for the past two years. Let me tell you a bit of what I’ve learned from this patriotic tool.
1) I became suspicious of the fact that every day between 5:00 and 5:30 p.m. a cluster of calls originating from Manish’s cell phone in Mumbai reached various places in the U.S. Correlating the calls to subsequent emails I learned that he was bragging about stalking the Bollywood actresses that work out at his new gym (especially an actress with the initials B.B.).
2) Neha would place a call to Canada every night after our day-end conference. I thought she was leaking information to the Canadian blogosphere but it turned out that she was just calling her bf who thinks she is really in America to be on the MTV reality show The Real World: North Dakota. Don’t worry bf, she talks about you all the time despite the best efforts of some.
3) Every night at 1a.m. Anna would get a two-second call. This was REALLY super shady and I was quite suspicious of her. Then I realized that 1a.m. every night is when I crank call her to whisper “Kaavya sucks!” before hanging up.
4) Ennis’ pager was blowing up at all hours of the day. I thought he was surely into something he shouldn’t have been. I was wrong though. He is just swimming in women and doesn’t have time to make trouble.
5) The fact that former guest-blogger Cicatrix calls the bunker only when the bunker is empty except for me does not indicate the planning of a coup.
6) Vinod-at-large really does travel the globe because of work, as proven by his cell phone records. At first I thought he was using one of those relay devices to mask his whereabouts and that he might in fact be dating a liberal or something.
7) Sajit is not an alcoholic. Every day for two months he would call an alcohol treatment center. I suspected the worst and was getting ready to force him out of SM. It turns out that he was placing the calls on behalf of his assistant.
8) Fofatlal has racked up a huge telephone bill by contacting the Psychic Friends Network.
9) Former guest-blogger Taz is trying to foment rebellion in Ecuador.
10) I don’t ever get any calls after 2:30a.m. (calls after 2:30a.m. are officially designated as booty calls). That’s not suspicious. I was just putting it out there.
In short, as you can see, my monitoring has been both justified and necessary. I have proved that despite having some quirks all of the bloggers have been loyal to SM. If I didn’t monitor their calls or mine them for patterns then I wouldn’t have been able to prove their virtue. You might argue that I’ve just been looking out for their best interests.
abhi on May 12, 2006 05:37 PM in Blog, Humor, Issues, Law, News · T·r·a·c·k·b·a·c·k address · Direct link · Email post
But... but... Dubya told me they're not listening to the calls. What can you actually gather just from knowing who all Americans call, when and how often? ;)
Seems the majority (of people polled anyway) supports this ...
">LinkOkay Vikram let's link battle. You'll lose though:
Abhi:
You forgot about monitoring the Internet.
I, too, have been vigilently monitoring your communication activities... and let me say, shocking things have turned up, indeed.
Just to pick an example, the website that you visit the most often. Your activities suggest that the peak hours normally go from 10am into the wee hours of the morning at 7am of the following day.
Website most frequented by Abhi (NSFW)
In light of this situation, I really do have to keep tabs on you...
I think you've missed the point of my post...that while the people you mentioned are upset about this, the public (at least for now) is not overly concerned. You quoted one WaPo article and missed/ignored the one I quoted. I never said I personally approved or disapproved of the NSA's actions. Or is your point that contrary views to yours should not be quoted ? ;-)
You CAD. How dare you. I'm so glad we're divorced.
P.S. I'm pregnant.
P.P.S. I'm naming her "Kaavya". Or him.
P.P.P.S. Dear NOTORIOUS Abhi, please be sending money to other side of bunker to pay for unwanted offspring of your gangsta rapper self, thank you. Also, please stop blaring Kanye's "Golddigger". I got a little something for your pre-nup right herre.
Apparently, this stuff has been going on for ages- for example, in 1999 Republican lawmakers brought up the same issue before congress
did you break into desi dancers line? or mine? the brown revolution taking over? i take my surgeon general duties pretty damn serious, as our party/clan will be wearing the best shirt ever (courtesy UPS--they have damn good ideas!)--my shirt that i wear proudly any chance i get ;).... that and of course, my bracelet...
Er, why would she need to plot a coup against you when she's been named DesiDancer's Chief Minister of Style? Cicatrix blogging on Sepia? That's so September 2005, totally passe and out of fashion. Kinda like bedazzled... um, stuff.
(If anyone should be watching her back for a coup these days.... hmmm, DesiDancer, maybe you should be intercepting and decrypting the bunker's communications. All that talk of love-children named Kaavya? Probably just code for "the counter-revolution must be STOPPED!!!")
Incidentally, if your long distance provider is Working Assets, apparently they've got your back, although ironically you're probably higher on the Bushies' list of suspects.
p.s. -- chick pea, love the official party/clan shirt. Do we get a fleet of brown trucks and aircraft as well?
>>If I didnt monitor their calls or mine them for patterns then I wouldnt have been able to prove their virtue.
You trying to steal the Ministry of Vice and Virtue from me?
M. Nam
Viva La Revolution!
Si Se Puede!
(Why Ecuador?)
Does anyone know if the phone tapping goes for cell phones too? Likely... I should gone for Working Assets when I had the chance- free ben and jerrys!
Naughty Abhi what about da ill hindu? Shirley you have been tapping him in the bunker?
Equador is spelled with a 'c', Ecuador.
Doh! Thanks P.
T-Mobile didn't hand over its records. Here's a list of who was naughty and who was nice (to its customers).
Can I get a hell yeah?
If there are any class actions suits I am so there.
It's scary.
Totally out of context question.
Does anyone know about Google or any company hiring mapping experts? As I have a friend who wants to create a decent map for Karachi but he is running out of funds and looking for someone who can finance the project in return of final product.
Taz:
sigh.....
Yes. Cell phones get tapped.
AK:
hehe... we get some airplanes, trucks, boats, and helicopters as well...they will have the logo...as well as tshirts such as this one :)... oh yeah.. i've thought of it for awhile... (who is the ministry of transportation in the brown brown revolution?--we should also come up with a video/interactive game but with bhangra rather then hip hop as the current dance dance revolution....(oh yeah, i've even thought about entertainment for the clan...fret not clan members..fret not ;))...my bullock cart wheels are always a spinning...
There was a recent episode of Boston Legal here in the UK that was about one of the firm's employees being prosecuted for tax evasion, and it snowballed into what is perceived to be happening to the US (phone-tapping, extraordinary rendition, Abu Ghraib, Gitmo etc). James Spader's character ("Alan Shore", I believe) gave quite a thought-provoking speech during his final "pitch" in the court.
Interesting stuff.
On ABC World News last night, one or the reporters said "So if there is an increase and calls to Pakistan for instance, the government will be interested in that." Hmmm.... I guess my Pakistani parents will now be labeled terrorists since they call their relatives in Pakistan all the time. lol. I'm pretty sure our phone has been tapped, seeing that we're Muslim and Pakistani. And the dumb people just blindly agree to give up their rights in this country (reference to that poll where 68% or something agrees to this phone tapping). This is like the Cold War days and the McCarthy Era! On a totally different note, I'm a junior in high school and am so dying to go to any of these schools:
1. Columbia
2. UC Berkeley
3. UCLA
3. UPenn
4. Cornell
5. Georgetown
6. University of Chicago
7. NYU
8. Boston University
HAs any desi bro or sis here gone to these schools? Do ya recommend or not recommend?
desigurl,
that's a wander off-topic, but I *sigh* went to BU, and know a ting or tree. Feel free to email me (link above) & I'll rant to you.
The FBI has been reading my mail since 2002. I'm semi-serious. People mail me things and they take a month to arrive - but only personal correspondence, never bills &c. Interesting. Either that or my postal worker has a crush on me and is reading my letters.
Yipes. Good post, Abhi.
They're all great schools. I've been to one of the places you listed as an undergrad and was trying to pick between grad school at about 3 of the others. It really depends on (a) where you want to live, and (b) what sort of undergrad experience you're looking for. For example, Cornell's an excellent school, and Ithaca is beautiful, but it's a tiny town in the mountains, and you're not going to get a lot of exposure to the outside world, not to the same extent as if you were at Columbia or NYU, or Georgetown (just as examples). Chicago is fantastic, but super-intense, etc. etc. Lots of little factors go into this, so it's a very personal decision. From a prestige/academic reputation point of view though, I'd say they're all on par, with the possible exception of BU; but I don't know enough about BU to really comment with any certainty on its reputation. All the others though, from what I know and have experienced with work/internships/studying there, are very high-end on the prestige ladder.
You're all making too much of this. Did anyone even take the time to read the USA Today article? It specifically says "This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations". That's a quote, you can read it in the article. It says the calls were not being listened to. So, either they're lying or you're all wrong.
This may just be another case of hysteria brought on by the idea that a headline saying "Government Engaging in Domestic Spying" will boost newspaper sales.
The fact remains that several sources have now said that this program is not being used to spy on innocent people, but to try to track down terrorists. From what I am hearing, no pertinent info about the people is being used whatsoever. I am also hearing that this story has been out there since December, as per an article in The New York Times. Where was the outrage back then?
Funny how more people are upset over the NSA, when companies like Microsoft are blatantly seeking complete access to a lot more personal information:
So why isn't this making the headlines ?
Also, like I said above- this was happening during the Clinton administration, Carter administration- heck spying on people living on American soil by our wonderful government was done before and after the Revolutionary war- and mail was censored during World War II. Not condoning it, just saying Bush isn't the first one to start it.
actually, AK, the code word "kavya" is equivalent to "420", "chronic", "elvis", etc. Abhi is a real tee-totaller and always says "no" to drugs.
this is why under my leadership all large phone companies shall be done away with, and anybody smart will switch to VOIP phone :)
VOIP helps to protect the contents (somewhat) but does not protect call routing information. And actually, the FBI are working on ways to grab the VOIP call close to the source (which means they may be able to do it already) so as to be able to tap those calls as well. Unless you encrypt the calls yourself, that is.
CC, this quote and your use of it are misleading -- the whole point of the NSA getting this information is not because they are information packrats, hoarding phone records like Abhi hoards stamps for his collection, but precisely so they can decide which conversations they want to listen to or record -- which, as already has been reported and confirmed ad nauseum, the NSA is in fact doing without getting warrants or otherwise submitting to judicial oversight. (And of course there was plenty of outrage in December about this general issue. What's new now is the revelation that the telecoms have cooperated with the NSA on such a massive scale, which was not widely noted until now.)
And how do we know, anyway, that the Bush administration is only surveilling "terrorists" and not "innocent people"? Just because they say so -- "trust us"? (Kind of like when the Solicitor General stood up before the Supreme Court, just before Abu Ghraib broke, and told the Court that the Bush administration doesn't engage in torture"? Or maybe you have in mind Rumsfeld's comment at the start of the Iraq War to the effect that he "knew where the WMDs were"?) That's the whole reason why we have a warrant requirement -- so there is some judicial oversight to check the executive's investigative powers.
DesiDancer, thanks for clearing that up -- but if you do ultimately decide that you need to surveil the bunker, let me know and as your AG I'll be happy to make it happen. But ONLY if we get a warrant first. :)
It's very simple. No one has your best interests closer to their heart than your Mom. Your Mom doesn't have a right to your phone records. Even less so does the government. I really recommend that those that do not like liberty to migrate to Cuba or China or best, North Korea.
Vikram said:
Vikram, I've been doing my best not to respond to anything you say, but your characterization of the American public's response to this is absurd. This is one of the most paranoid country in the world when it comes to government intrusions--they won't even agree to a national ID card let alone free-for-all interceptions of phone calls.
The way this works is that they asked phone companies for their call records. Those bastards (except for Qwest) turned over the records without a subpoena. They then trove through the records and look for patterns. And then they targeted particular individuals.
If this makes you comfortable, I admire you for your fortitude. I just can't wait until you get investigated though.
I almost called you Eichmann. I didn't. But I almost did.
By the way, if anyone is paranoid about this, this is a good example of why it pays to make sure you monitor what hte US government is doing internationally even though it may or may not affect you. See Echelon, which has allegedly been doing the similar things for years if not decades.
Ah, vindication so quickly for those of us who questioned ABC/Washington Post's rushing out that hack-job of a poll. When you follow the normal rules of polling, the 67% approving mysteriously drops to 41% -- which would appear to be more than margin of error.
A majority of Americans polled, 53 percent, believe that reports that the NSA has been secretly collecting the phone records of U.S. citizens since the 9/11 terrorist attacks to create a database of calls goes too far in invading people's privacy, according to the new Newsweek Poll, while 41 percent feel it is a necessary tool to combat terrorism. In light of this news and other actions by the Bush-Cheney administration, 57 percent of Americans say they have gone too far in expanding presidential power, while only 38 percent say they have not.
You know which way people feel about this when even Geraldo on Fox is against it :-)
Geraldo ended his show with:
"colleagues, Republican and Democrat, to vote against the confirmation of General Michael Hayden as the next director of the CIA. If you dont stop this guy, hell be peeking in our bedrooms next."
Ok... take that up with the people who conducted the poll. I just posted the link.
For all you know I may be working for an agency with a 3 letter acronym ;-)
I suppose then Godwin's Law *almost* applied to your discussion "abilities".
Desigurl:
UC Berkeley is great. Out of your entire list, I highly recommend UC Berkeley without a doubt.
Leave University of Chicago alone, especially if you are going to be an undergraduate. Trust me on this.
Don't be so easily scared off of University of Chicago. If you're a hardcore student, and don't mind an intense academic atmosphere, it's a great school in a crappy neighborhood of a great city. You'll get more individualized attention than you would in a very large school like Berkeley, which is great, but very sink-or-swim.
University of Chicago Phoenix:
Being a "hardcore student" and not minding "an intense academic atmosphere" has nothing to do with whether you like University of Chicago or not. One may be a "hardcore student" and "not mind an intense academic atmosphere" and still find that the U of Chicago's academic environment and training is not the most desirable.
Why do you say the neighborhood is "crappy"? It's the most real thing in the vicinity of the goddamn campus.
You can also get individualized attention at Berkeley, if you try. True, there is no comparison regarding the number of students at UCB as opposed to the U of Chicago, but I have to admit, I never had a problem getting individual attention from any of my UCB professors. Actually, truth be told, U of C is extremely frustrating because Office Hours are held in blocks of fifteen minutes per appointment. This is ridiculous. At UCB, OH were allotted in larger chunks, and ample time was available to those who wanted to "shoot the shit".
Go to the best (i.e. most laid back) first tier liberal arts college you can get into. I'm talking places like Grinnell or Davidson or Oberlin. I'm an Ivy-leaguer, and it's not all it's cracked up to be. Don't get too caught up in the name game.
Trust me.
I attended one of those three, and would be happy to discuss it with anyone who's interested.
taz (#12):
Come on taz, we all know you were registering voters in Venezuela and Bolivia, and Ecuador's just the next logical step.
How about we take this discussion to an internet chat room and focus on the data mining in this thread instead.
Beti, it doesn't matter where you go to school, it matters what you make of the experience and your education.
Visit the school, that's worth more than anybody's 2 cents. Except mine.
How about we take this discussion to an internet chat room and focus on the data mining in this thread instead.
Haha, right on :) But, gurl, go to a good public school. It's a better investment if you want to do something reasonable with your life (i.e. not investment banking).
I suppose then Godwin's Law *almost* applied to your discussion "abilities".
What makes you think I meant you were almost a Nazi, Vikram? Maybe I just think you're extremely banal. ;)
err..of course not!! Gosh, Abhi.. you so funny!
It's ok, yaar..just tell the nice people the truth. You need me, as Minister of Style, to check in regularly, to prevent those dark moments (after 2:30 am) when you worry that the ladies really aren't turned on by hirsuit men...
(Why Ecuador?)
GIANT TORTOISES! Do you even need to ask??
Nothing spells revolution like an army of giant tortoises.
/is pleased that her dark fiber wiring of the fortress worked.
First of all this hysteria over people being investigated is what's really misleading. Having phone records is not new for the gov't, nor is it for many companies and telemarketers either. Now I don't see it as a problem, since they are NOT just randomly listening in on innocent people's conversations or looking at all their info. They are trying to track down al-Qaida and their communications, which I should think we'd all want them to do. I'm sick of hearing "oh, they're spying on Americans." This is a gross misstatement of what they are trying to do.
The issue isn't simply that I don't care if they want to look at my phone records. What are they gonna find? Me talking to my grandmother or getting a call-in from work or a friend asking to hang out, probably. Big deal. I'm not revealing anything over the phone that would be earthshattering.
So what if they know what my phone number is? They are only gonna delve further into my records if they think there is an al-Qaida connection. So if there is a connection, I'd like to know it too. Go ahead, track my phone number.
This isn't an illegal infringement. Other Presidents, including President Bush's predecessor, dealt with the issue of comminications surveillence.
One more thing. Secrecy in some of these areas is a valuable tool against the enemy. I don't necessarily need to be told that my phone records are in a database and may or may not be subject to evaluation if a connection to al-Qaida is suspected. I think I should be notified if i am going to be charged with a crime or with aiding a crime, but the fact that my records are available for review is not something I have to know.
What are you all? Idiots this is taking away our freedom this is how it all begins!!