Blackhacker

Before we where consumed with Elliot Spitzer’s sexual appetites, and is apparent indiscretions, the following was the top story of the day running page one, column one above the fold of the WSJ:

NSA’s Domestic Spying Grows As Agency Sweeps Up Data - WSJ.com
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Five years ago, Congress killed an experimental Pentagon antiterrorism program meant to vacuum up electronic data about people in the U.S. to search for suspicious patterns. Opponents called it too broad an intrusion on Americans’ privacy, even after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

But the data-sifting effort didn’t disappear. The National Security Agency, once confined to foreign surveillance, has been building essentially the same system.

This is the kind of thing that keeps me up at night. If there is such thing as a scary Government Agency, none fit the profile better than the NSA. Its entire reason for existing is eavesdropping. But it was created to spy on our enemies. Not us. But not anymore:

Two former officials familiar with the data-sifting efforts said they work by starting with some sort of lead, like a phone number or Internet address. In partnership with the FBI, the systems then can track all domestic and foreign transactions of people associated with that item — and then the people who associated with them, and so on, casting a gradually wider net. An intelligence official described more of a rapid-response effect: If a person suspected of terrorist connections is believed to be in a U.S. city — for instance, Detroit, a community with a high concentration of Muslim Americans — the government’s spy systems may be directed to collect and analyze all electronic communications into and out of the city.

So they ID A possible terrorist and they monitor the and ENTIRE CITY.

That’s not only a flagrant a total side step of the constitutional rights, it is also the STUPIDEST way to to find the related terrorist. As programmer who has written a program or two that needed to process large amounts of data: the easiest way to find a needle in a haystack is ID the hay and get rid of it, not pile on more hay.

Anyway in case you have for gotten this is the law of the land:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Just to be clear I consider who I talk to, on the phone, and the Internet also part of my effects. I just wish the supreme court agreed with me.

Supreme Court declines to hear NSA wiretap case
The most direct legal challenge to the controversial program of warrantless National Security Agency wiretaps authorized by President George Bush after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, hit a wall on Tuesday when the Supreme Court declined to review whether a group of plaintiffs represented by the American Civil Liberties Union have a right to sue the government.

CNN has the story Secret court to monitor domestic spying program

What is interesting is this:

“Accordingly, under these circumstances, the President has determined not to reauthorize the Terrorist Surveillance Program when the current authorization expires,” the attorney general wrote.

From that it obvious that the spy program is about extending Executive Power and NOT about a finding terrorist. And the reason the President doesn’t want over site on this program is that the KNOWS he is going to be preforming surveillance without ANY legal reason to do so.

And in case you forgot:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Dap: /.

Pentagon and CIA snooping Americans’ financial records
In the wake of 9/11, the FBI was given the power to issue demands, in the form of “national security letters,” for records from financial institutions like banks and credit card companies. Compliance with these demands is compulsory.

The NYT story reveals that the Pentagon and the CIA have been issuing their own, “non-compulsory” versions of the letters that the banks can choose to contest in court. Apparently, banks and other financial institutions are choosing to cough up the documents, and both agencies have used them to obtain information on hundreds of American citizens.

This Ars Technica article goes on to point out that normally the Military is prohibited from enforcing domestic law and thew CIA is prohibited from spying in the US.

Pentagon officials said they used the letters to follow up on a variety of intelligence tips or leads. While they would not provide details about specific cases, military intelligence officials with knowledge of them said the military had issued the letters to collect financial records regarding a government contractor with unexplained wealth, for example …
(link)

That is of course stupid because They could have (should have) done a background check on the contractor before award the contract. No letter would be needed. I wish the government was this diligent when it come to control wait fraud and abuse by contractors in Iraq.

In case you didn’t know:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Next thing you know your new roommate shows up say he has been assigned to “quarter” in your house. For the legally impaired that is in violation of Amendment III.