Very few Americans know that the U.S. government spies on us — a lot!
This was posted Nov. 21, 2023:
Secretive White House surveillance program gives cops access to trillions of US phone records
A surveillance program innocuously known as Data Analytical Services (DAS) has for more than a decade allowed federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to mine the details of Americans’ calls, analyzing the phone records of countless people who are not suspected of any crime, including victims. Using a technique known as chain analysis, the program targets not only those in direct phone contact with a criminal suspect but anyone with whom those individuals have been in contact as well.
This was posted Nov. 17, 2023:
Reining In Government Surveillance
A bill introduced by a bipartisan group of lawmakers would help prevent the government from abusing its spying powers. Our new analysis walks through the Government Surveillance Reform Act, including how it would close a warrantless spying loophole in Section 702, a controversial surveillance law that will expire this year unless it’s reauthorized. Crucially, the bill would help reverse the decades-long erosion of Americans’ privacy rights.
This was posted March 6, 2023:
Department of Homeland Security’s secret domestic intelligence program outed
For years, the Department of Homeland Security has run a virtually unknown program gathering domestic intelligence on Americans, causing a significant number of DHS employees to raise concerns that the work they are doing could be, you know, illegal. Since the Sept 11 terror attacks, the intelligence community has been playing fast and loose with our civil liberties, often without congressional approval or even knowledge. These new revelations raise serious questions about the span of their domestic spying programs and Congress should immediately call DHS in for a hearing — but of course, the “freedom-loving” GOP won’t care one bit.
This was posted Feb. 21, 2023, by the American Civil Liberties Union (www.aclu.org):
Today, the Supreme Court let us down. Again.
SCOTUS refused to hear Wikimedia v. NSA, the ACLU lawsuit challenging the NSA’s mass surveillance of Americans’ online communications with family, friends, and others abroad.
By refusing to hear this case, the Court has slammed shut one of the only doors left to hold the government accountable for surveillance abuses first revealed in 2013 by Edward Snowden.
To be clear: The U.S. government is engaging in the mass, warrantless surveillance of Americans’ international phone calls, text messages, emails, and other digital communications using this law, Anderson.
The government is able to use the information it collects without a warrant to prosecute and imprison people – even for crimes that have nothing to do with national security. And given our nation’s history of abusing its surveillance authorities, there is little doubt that Section 702 will be used disproportionately against groups that often face the greatest government scrutiny, including communities of color, immigrants, and political activists.
But we are not powerless. Congress can still fight back against these egregious violations of our privacy. Instead of reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the law used to justify this unconstitutional spying, Congress can let it expire.
