Does NSA record calls or text messages?

[Edward777]

Anyone have any sources that points to this practice?

[Warlord]

Assuming they have them as "business records"

[69360]

nothing electronic is safe

[Peace Piper]

Anyone have any sources that points to this practice?

Greenwald's first release (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/06/nsa-phone-records-verizon-court-order) detailed what was, until then, a "conspiracy theory"- that all calls were being recorded and stored. That and the subsequent columns (documents online) (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/series/glenn-greenwald-security-liberty) proved it Conspiracy Fact.

It's now safe to assume everything that can be recorded is being recorded. Everything. Right now. And stored. Forever.
Calls, text messages, likes on farcebook, this post, every single thing.

Soon, add your entire medical history (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?421858-Move-over-NSA-here-comes-the-Obamacare-Big-Brother-database&p=5134560#post5134560), to be called up by anyone with a password. This hasn't started to sink in to the average Joe.

We are miles into the Surveillance state. And it won't be easy to reverse.

[presence]

Yes and no. Its my understanding that they are storing any and all "metadata" indefinitely. But there is also speak of "internet buffer" or "data buffer" which is taking a full picture and holding it for a few days, maybe a month. As data storage becomes cheaper I'd expect these buffers to progress towards indefinite; which I suspect to be part and parcel of the Utah Data Center's mission.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jun/21/how-does-gchq-internet-surveillance-work

[CaptUSA]

Greenwald's first release (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/06/nsa-phone-records-verizon-court-order) detailed what was, until then, a "conspiracy theory"- that all calls were being recorded and stored. That and the subsequent columns (documents online) (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/series/glenn-greenwald-security-liberty) proved it Conspiracy Fact.

It's now safe to assume everything that can be recorded is being recorded. Everything. Right now. And stored. Forever.
Calls, text messages, likes on farcebook, this post, every single thing.

Soon, add your entire medical history (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?421858-Move-over-NSA-here-comes-the-Obamacare-Big-Brother-database&p=5134560#post5134560), to be called up by anyone with a password. This hasn't started to sink in to the average Joe.

We are miles into the Surveillance state. And it won't be easy to reverse.And every financial transaction. And most travel (by air, rail, bus, and even car). Medical records are really the last piece of having full knowledge about every individual's life. Now, they probably won't use it unless they need it, but if they should ever need it (like if you become a problem, or if you run for office, or if you start gaining power...) they will have it ready to go.

[tod evans]

If not the NSA then some agency paid for with tax-dollars is.

Shutting down the NSA isn't going to slow data gathering by government one bit.

Shutting down government isn't going to stop data gathering by private companies.

Technology brought us to this point in just a few decades, think where we'll be in a few more....:eek:

[Valli6]

On CNN, a former FBI agent stated that all digital data is saved and can be accessed later. This was BEFORE Snowden blew the whistle on the NSA. They like to claim, "Don't be ridiculous! We are not listening to everyone's phone calls!" They aren't - but if they decide they want to go after you, they can just pull up the data from every call you ever made or received, listen to it at that point, and determine how it fits into the scenario they wish to create. This is how they were able to find out what the Boston Bomber talked to his wife about.

"We certainly have ways in national security investigations to find out exactly what was said in that conversation….All of that stuff is being captured as we speak whether we know it or like it or not.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt9kRLrmrjc

I'd imagine that - if they choose - the DOJ can listen to every phone call George Zimmerman ever made and find a way to to paint him racist. They could also pull up the phone call between Trayvon Martin and his girlfriend to find out exactly what they believed about Zimmerman.

[Anti Federalist]

And every financial transaction. And most travel (by air, rail, bus, and even car). Medical records are really the last piece of having full knowledge about every individual's life. Now, they probably won't use it unless they need it, but if they should ever need it (like if you become a problem, or if you run for office, or if you start gaining power...) they will have it ready to go.

Remember the discussions we had about "smart meters" last year or so ago?

Is it so far fetched now?

Or if not a "smart" meter doing it, the embedded wireless technology being built into everything these days, will send all your electrical usage to The Matrix.

Everything you do, every waking...scratch that, every second of your life, from before you are born, until you die, and maybe even after that, will be under surveillance.

[Anti Federalist]

On CNN, a former FBI agent stated that all digital data is saved and can be accessed later. This was BEFORE Snowden blew the whistle on the NSA. They like to claim, "Don't be ridiculous! We are not listening to everyone's phone calls!" They aren't - but if they decide they want to go after you, they can just pull up the data from every call you ever made or received, listen to it at that point, and determine how it fits into the scenario they wish to create. This is how they were able to find out what the Boston Bomber talked to his wife about.

I hope everybody understands that is what the NSA is building in Utah.

That goes online in September.

This system will not just scoop up yottabytes of data, it has the power to instantly analyze, cross reference and collate that data.

It will not just be sitting around in some file waiting to be acted upon.

Starting September, the American people are going to find out, quite bluntly, that they did, in fact, "have something to hide".

[kahless]

On CNN, a former FBI agent stated that all digital data is saved and can be accessed later. This was BEFORE Snowden blew the whistle on the NSA. They like to claim, "Don't be ridiculous! We are not listening to everyone's phone calls!" They aren't - but if they decide they want to go after you, they can just pull up the data from every call you ever made or received, listen to it at that point, and determine how it fits into the scenario they wish to create. This is how they were able to find out what the Boston Bomber talked to his wife about.

--
I'd imagine that - if they choose - the DOJ can listen to every phone call George Zimmerman ever made and find a way to to paint him racist. They could also pull up the phone call between Trayvon Martin and his girlfriend to find out exactly what they believed about Zimmerman.

State media is a real problem in this country. It needs to be in-grained in the psyche of the average American that the mainstream media is state media, not impartial and working against your best interests.

There needs to be a campaign and protests at their doors to blame them for everything the government does that they have promoted. There also should be an effort in the liberty movement to seek investors for a national media outlet to compete with the propaganda.

[CaptUSA]

Remember the discussions we had about "smart meters" last year or so ago?

Is it so far fetched now?

Or if not a "smart" meter doing it, the embedded wireless technology being built into everything these days, will send all your electrical usage to The Matrix.

Everything you do, every waking...scratch that, every second of your life, from before you are born, until you die, and maybe even after that, will be under surveillance.Yeah, I remember. This was major concern all along. Forget the health concerns, the privacy concerns are real! This is why you should pressure your state officials to stop forcing smart metering. Once they get enough states doing it, it will go national! Also, you should not pair any items to your meter - no matter what benefits they offer you.

And even if YOU, individually, have nothing to hide or don't care if they're watching you, think about them watching all the politicians! Think about the control they'll have over every person in a position of power. They will control who gets there, and then they'll control them once they're there. It's quite ironic that the only way a free person will be able to remain free is if they live in some cave, out of the reach of all modern conveniences and out of sight of the monitoring eye... Just like the terrorists that hate us for our freedom.

[Anti Federalist]

Yeah, I remember. This was major concern all along. Forget the health concerns, the privacy concerns are real! This is why you should pressure your state officials to stop forcing smart metering. Once they get enough states doing it, it will go national! Also, you should not pair any items to your meter - no matter what benefits they offer you.

And even if YOU, individually, have nothing to hide or don't care if they're watching you, think about them watching all the politicians! Think about the control they'll have over every person in a position of power. They will control who gets there, and then they'll control them once they're there. It's quite ironic that the only way a free person will be able to remain free is if they live in some cave, out of the reach of all modern conveniences and out of sight of the monitoring eye... Just like the terrorists that hate us for our freedom.

Exactly...oh and trust me, we all have "something to hide".

With the hundreds of thousands of laws, written into millions of pages, no one person can ever comprehend it all.

We're all breaking a law somewhere.

Now the system will be able to find out when, where, who and how each law is being broken.

To be followed with a SWAT raid to enforce compliance.

Freedom.

[Keith and stuff]

Soon, add your entire medical history (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?421858-Move-over-NSA-here-comes-the-Obamacare-Big-Brother-database&p=5134560#post5134560), to be called up by anyone with a password. This hasn't started to sink in to the average Joe.
Unless you have a doctor with paper records that you pay with cash while at the office ;)

[Anti Federalist]

Unless you have a doctor with paper records that you pay with cash while at the office ;)

No medical record = no job, no credit, no insurance, fines and possible prosecution.

Before too much longer, the system will start aggressively pursuing the "Blanks".

[tod evans]

Technology isn't stoppable.

People who abuse technology are.

When exactly does the abuse of technology occur is the question.

Those using the technology struggle with just how far they can push, just as those being pushed struggle with how far they'll be pushed.

"Just-Us" is very different than justice....

Those being pushed will demand justice eventually..................................I hope:o

[liberty2897]

... But there is also speak of "internet buffer" or "data buffer" which is taking a full picture and holding it for a few days, maybe a month.

I know a contractor who was working on the first network sensors (data recorders) shortly after 9/11. In the early days, they installed these things (running in promiscuous mode) all over the place on the "big pipes". They had this capability for almost 10 years now. He says he didn't know what NSA did with it after they handed it off. With drive capacity doubling over the past 10 years (2^10), you would think they could easily store all phone call content, all e-mail (text and links), all texts, forum posts, etc. You can bet that they do for "individuals of interest". These days, I think that covers just about everyone. That contractor friend of mine won't touch social networking sites or Windows even though he considers himself one of the "good guys" helping find the "bad guys".

[edit]
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/05/70908


Plans for the "secret room" were fully drawn up by December 2002, curiously only four months after Darpa started awarding contracts for TIA. One 60-page document, identified as coming from "AT&T Labs Connectivity & Net Services" and authored by the labs' consultant Mathew F. Casamassima, is titled Study Group 3, LGX/Splitter Wiring, San Francisco and dated 12/10/02. (See sample PDF 1-4.) This document addresses the special problem of trying to spy on fiber-optic circuits. Unlike copper wire circuits which emit electromagnetic fields that can be tapped into without disturbing the circuits, fiber-optic circuits do not "leak" their light signals. In order to monitor such communications, one has to physically cut into the fiber somehow and divert a portion of the light signal to see the information.
This problem is solved with "splitters" which literally split off a percentage of the light signal so it can be examined. This is the purpose of the special cabinet referred to above: Circuits are connected into it, the light signal is split into two signals, one of which is diverted to the "secret room." The cabinet is totally unnecessary for the circuit to perform -- in fact it introduces problems since the signal level is reduced by the splitter -- its only purpose is to enable a third party to examine the data flowing between sender and recipient on the internet.

[HOLLYWOOD]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNRgP4FVDzA

[better-dead-than-fed]

On CNN, a former FBI agent stated that all digital data is saved and can be accessed later. This was BEFORE Snowden blew the whistle on the NSA.

The agent's name is Tim Clemente, and there is more info here:

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?413254-quot-every-telephone-conversation-with-or-without-a-search-warrant-is-being-captured-quot

No charges from the DOJ against Clemente as far as I know.

[Deborah K]

This is how they were able to find out what the Boston Bomber talked to his wife about.



Yet, isn't it interesting how all this surveillance did nothing to prevent the attack.

[CPUd]

A telecom provider may store the voice content of all their calls for a few days. If NSA keys on an individual, they could probably get that voice data from the telecom's servers, plus capture any future calls. At that point, it would have to be humans listening to the calls; we don't have a machine that can search voice data en masse and do mining on it like they could do with call records. If you have ever worked with speech-to-text programs, you will understand why.

It's still not technically feasible for any one organization to store 'everything'. We are a good 10 years away from anything close to that. If you have to maintain 1 yottabyte of data, how many hard drives would you need?

You may be able to find some 5 TB drives, if price is no object. To store 1 yottabyte, you would need 2.2 x 10^11 of them.

[better-dead-than-fed]

Another document... and this one's coming soon... it talks about how a brand new technology enables the NSA to redirect into its own repositories one billion cell phone calls every single day.... They're storing every call and have the capability to listen to them at any time.

http://youtu.be/Uulv4ve6RJ8?t=39m48s

[DamianTV]

Anyone have any sources that points to this practice?

Its actually easier to list the things that the NSA doesnt record. I did some hunting and this is the list I came up with.

Things the NSA does not currently record:

End of List.

---


No medical record = no job, no credit, no insurance, fines and possible prosecution.

Before too much longer, the system will start aggressively pursuing the "Blanks".

What do you think Facebook is for? Please just fill in the blanks for us.

[Peace Piper]

A telecom provider may store the voice content of all their calls for a few days. If NSA keys on an individual, they could probably get that voice data from the telecom's servers, plus capture any future calls. At that point, it would have to be humans listening to the calls; we don't have a machine that can search voice data en masse and do mining on it like they could do with call records. If you have ever worked with speech-to-text programs, you will understand why.


NSA spying flap extends to contents of U.S. phone calls
Declan McCullagh | June 15, 2013

Earlier reports have indicated that the NSA has the ability to record nearly all domestic and international phone calls -- in case an analyst needed to access the recordings in the future. A Wired magazine article last year disclosed that the NSA has established "listening posts" that allow the agency to collect and sift through billions of phone calls through a massive new data center in Utah, "whether they originate within the country or overseas." That includes not just metadata, but also the contents of the communications.

William Binney, a former NSA technical director who helped to modernize the agency's worldwide eavesdropping network, told the Daily Caller this week that the NSA records the phone calls of 500,000 to 1 million people who are on its so-called target list, and perhaps even more. "They look through these phone numbers and they target those and that's what they record," Binney said.

Brewster Kahle, a computer engineer who founded the Internet Archive, has vast experience storing large amounts of data. He created a spreadsheet this week estimating that the cost to store all domestic phone calls a year in cloud storage for data-mining purposes would be about $27 million per year, not counting the cost of extra security for a top-secret program and security clearances for the people involved.

NSA's annual budget is classified but is estimated to be around $10 billion...more
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57589495-38/nsa-spying-flap-extends-to-contents-of-u.s-phone-calls/



Revelation of NSA spying only tip of iceberg: US lawmaker
Fri Jun 14, 2013
US House Representative Loretta Sanchez says the recent revelations about the spying operations of the National Security Agency (NSA) are only “the tip of the iceberg.”
http://www.presstv.com/detail/2013/06/14/309041/leaks-of-us-espionage-tip-of-iceberg/




If you have to maintain 1 yottabyte of data, how many hard drives would you need?
You may be able to find some 5 TB drives, if price is no object. To store 1 yottabyte, you would need 2.2 x 10^11 of them.

1 TB consumer drives are 50 bucks on sale, sometimes even less. Regular price at pricewatch (http://pricewatch.com) for 5 TB usb drive right now: $154

Google maybe pays $5.00/ TB? Probably less


Seagate hits 1 terabit per square inch, 60TB hard drives on their way
March 20, 2012

Seagate has demonstrated the first terabit-per-square-inch hard drive, almost doubling the areal density found in modern hard drives. Initially this will result in 6TB 3.5-inch desktop drives and 2TB 2.5-inch laptop drives, but eventually Seagate is promising up to 60TB and 20TB respectively. http://www.extremetech.com/computing/122921-seagate-hits-1-terabit-per-square-inch-60tb-drives-on-their-way


I think it's safe to assume that everything digital that can be recorded is being recorded and saved forever. Right now. I'd bet on it.

[tod evans]

I think it's safe to assume that everything digital that can be recorded is being recorded and saved forever. Right now. I'd bet on it.

I agree.

I also think data storage has been going on longer than just the last few years.

This "new and improved" storage just makes life easier on government..

[CPUd]

NSA spying flap extends to contents of U.S. phone calls
Declan McCullagh | June 15, 2013

Earlier reports have indicated that the NSA has the ability to record nearly all domestic and international phone calls -- in case an analyst needed to access the recordings in the future. A Wired magazine article last year disclosed that the NSA has established "listening posts" that allow the agency to collect and sift through billions of phone calls through a massive new data center in Utah, "whether they originate within the country or overseas." That includes not just metadata, but also the contents of the communications.

William Binney, a former NSA technical director who helped to modernize the agency's worldwide eavesdropping network, told the Daily Caller this week that the NSA records the phone calls of 500,000 to 1 million people who are on its so-called target list, and perhaps even more. "They look through these phone numbers and they target those and that's what they record," Binney said.

Brewster Kahle, a computer engineer who founded the Internet Archive, has vast experience storing large amounts of data. He created a spreadsheet this week estimating that the cost to store all domestic phone calls a year in cloud storage for data-mining purposes would be about $27 million per year, not counting the cost of extra security for a top-secret program and security clearances for the people involved.

NSA's annual budget is classified but is estimated to be around $10 billion...more
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57589495-38/nsa-spying-flap-extends-to-contents-of-u.s-phone-calls/



Revelation of NSA spying only tip of iceberg: US lawmaker
Fri Jun 14, 2013
US House Representative Loretta Sanchez says the recent revelations about the spying operations of the National Security Agency (NSA) are only “the tip of the iceberg.”
http://www.presstv.com/detail/2013/06/14/309041/leaks-of-us-espionage-tip-of-iceberg/




1 TB consumer drives are 50 bucks on sale, sometimes even less. Regular price at pricewatch (http://pricewatch.com) for 5 TB usb drive right now: $154

Google maybe pays $5.00/ TB? Probably less


Seagate hits 1 terabit per square inch, 60TB hard drives on their way
March 20, 2012

Seagate has demonstrated the first terabit-per-square-inch hard drive, almost doubling the areal density found in modern hard drives. Initially this will result in 6TB 3.5-inch desktop drives and 2TB 2.5-inch laptop drives, but eventually Seagate is promising up to 60TB and 20TB respectively. http://www.extremetech.com/computing/122921-seagate-hits-1-terabit-per-square-inch-60tb-drives-on-their-way


I think it's safe to assume that everything digital that can be recorded is being recorded and saved forever. Right now. I'd bet on it.


Note that they are saying they are currently recording on the accounts that are targeted. The place in Utah may be able to handle more, but it will do nowhere near what they are wishing for it to do; also note that it works to their advantage that people believe they can.

It is still not physically possible to store that much data in a single facility. 2.2 x 10^11 5TB drives for just 1 yottabyte- let us be generous and say there is such a thing as a 500 TB drive, then we would still need 2.2 x 10^9 of them. Also, let us assume they can afford all of these; how many drives can a manufacturer produce? We can once again be extremely generous and give them 1 billion a year. This means, all the HDD manufaturers will be making drives exclusively for NSA for the next 2 years.

OK, let's wait a couple years. So now we have 2.2 billion drives installed in the Utah datacenter. Time to turn them on and start collecting. Each product is different, but suppose a given drive has a (not atypical) 3% fail rate within the first year of operation. This is 66 million drives that fail, so we will need to replace an average of 180822 drives per day. This is slightly over 2 drives a second.

Without redundancy, the data on the failed drives will be lost forever. This means to store 1 yottabyte of usable data, we will need more space to accommodate the overhead. Having them in a RAID-1 array would require twice the number of drives, but there are more efficient schemes available; it could possibly be done with 1.3x the number of drives (190 million extra drives).

Thus, the only way this operation can be physically possible is if it is done at multiple facilities. Having access to the backend servers of the major telecoms is the most significant revelation to come out of the recent NSA stories. If the companies mentioned in the PRISM slides suddenly banned NSA, it will effectively shut this snooping operation down, as they would need about 1000 datacenters to even get it in the ballpark of being feasible.

I'm not arguing that they are unable to 'see' everything, just that they are unable to store everything and still be able to do something useful with it. If you want to see the type of things they can see, get a program called wireshark and run it while you go about your normal routine. Leave it running for a couple of days, then stop it, save the packet dump and take a look at the filesize.

[better-dead-than-fed]

they are unable to store everything

What limitations are you assuming on their ability to compress audio data? (compare "They're storing every call" (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?421883-Does-NSA-record-calls-or-text-messages&p=5136700&viewfull=1#post5136700))

[DamianTV]

Techology advances.

In 50 years, a script kiddie will have the same level of storage capacity as the NSA does today, as well as unfettered access to abusive technologies that are far far worse and that we havent even dreamed up yet.

The Right to Privacy did not end simply because we are now in our own futures, or because some Govt alphabet agency did not bother to respect our Rights. Our future will be our childrens past. They will have to deal with the consequences of much more abusive technology than currently exists. Are we going to lay the foundation for a Shadow Govt to monitor everything, or are we going to secure Freedom and Liberty in stone.

History should teach us all that Freedom and Surveillance are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

[CPUd]

What limitations are you assuming on their ability to compress audio data?

It would depend on the method of capture and the compression format, and would be done by the provider. The NSA systems would not have much time to do any transcoding. The time for each task would be (slowest to fastest):

- disk writes (mechanical)
- disk reads (mechanical)
- I/O controller (initiate read/write)
- RAM access (find out which disk and sector to read/write)
- CPU arithmetic (determine the data that gets read/written)

The major providers probably can store all their own voice data temporarily, and would make sense to do so for QoS purposes. They have to do it anyway for voicemail.

[tod evans]

Technology isn't the problem.

Government is!

The government we have now must be made an example of so as to deter any future government from such behavior.

[CPUd]

Technology isn't the problem.

Government is!

The government we have now must be made an example of so as to deter any future government from such behavior.

I believe technology is the solution.

[tod evans]

I believe technology is the solution.

Care to elaborate?

[I'm technologically challenged.]

[Warlord]

I believe technology is the solution.


Most people will never encrypt everything end-to-end as it's too bothersome for routine things so yes they can and will monitor everything. I dont think phone calls are recorded by Skype's are and can be accessed in real time.

[Peace Piper]

I dont think phone calls are recorded by Skype's are and can be accessed in real time.

Mass Denial Syndrome

Who can blame people. That we are living in an expanded 1984 isn't a terribly pleasant thing to think about. And it has happened on OUR watch.

(***Note that this was published before the first SnowStorm)


Are all telephone calls recorded and accessible to the US government?
A former FBI counterterrorism agent claims on CNN that this is the case
Glenn Greenwald guardian.co.uk, Saturday 4 May 2013
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/04/telephone-calls-recorded-fbi-boston

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/5/4/1367669166312/cnn.png

The real capabilities and behavior of the US surveillance state are almost entirely unknown to the American public because, like most things of significance done by the US government, it operates behind an impenetrable wall of secrecy. But a seemingly spontaneous admission this week by a former FBI counterterrorism agent provides a rather startling acknowledgment of just how vast and invasive these surveillance activities are.

Over the past couple days, cable news tabloid shows such as CNN's Out Front with Erin Burnett have been excitingly focused on the possible involvement in the Boston Marathon attack of Katherine Russell, the 24-year-old American widow of the deceased suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev. As part of their relentless stream of leaks uncritically disseminated by our Adversarial Press Corps, anonymous government officials are claiming that they are now focused on telephone calls between Russell and Tsarnaev that took place both before and after the attack to determine if she had prior knowledge of the plot or participated in any way.

On Wednesday night, Burnett interviewed Tim Clemente, a former FBI counterterrorism agent, about whether the FBI would be able to discover the contents of past telephone conversations between the two. He quite clearly insisted that they could:


BURNETT: Tim, is there any way, obviously, there is a voice mail they can try to get the phone companies to give that up at this point. It's not a voice mail. It's just a conversation. There's no way they actually can find out what happened, right, unless she tells them?

CLEMENTE: "No, there is a way. We certainly have ways in national security investigations to find out exactly what was said in that conversation. It's not necessarily something that the FBI is going to want to present in court, but it may help lead the investigation and/or lead to questioning of her. We certainly can find that out.

BURNETT: "So they can actually get that? People are saying, look, that is incredible.

CLEMENTE: "No, welcome to America. All of that stuff is being captured as we speak whether we know it or like it or not."

"All of that stuff" - meaning every telephone conversation Americans have with one another on US soil, with or without a search warrant - "is being captured as we speak".

On Thursday night, Clemente again appeared on CNN, this time with host Carol Costello, and she asked him about those remarks. He reiterated what he said the night before but added expressly that "all digital communications in the past" are recorded and stored:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt9kRLrmrjc

Let's repeat that last part: "no digital communication is secure", by which he means not that any communication is susceptible to government interception as it happens (although that is true), but far beyond that: all digital communications - meaning telephone calls, emails, online chats and the like - are automatically recorded and stored and accessible to the government after the fact. To describe that is to define what a ubiquitous, limitless Surveillance State is.

There have been some previous indications that this is true. Former AT&T engineer Mark Klein revealed that AT&T and other telecoms had built a special network that allowed the National Security Agency full and unfettered access to data about the telephone calls and the content of email communications for all of their customers. Specifically, Klein explained "that the NSA set up a system that vacuumed up Internet and phone-call data from ordinary Americans with the cooperation of AT&T" and that "contrary to the government's depiction of its surveillance program as aimed at overseas terrorists . . . much of the data sent through AT&T to the NSA was purely domestic." But his amazing revelations were mostly ignored and, when Congress retroactively immunized the nation's telecom giants for their participation in the illegal Bush spying programs, Klein's claims (by design) were prevented from being adjudicated in court.

That every single telephone call is recorded and stored would also explain this extraordinary revelation by the Washington Post in 2010:


Every day, collection systems at the National Security Agency intercept and store 1.7 billion e-mails, phone calls and other types of communications.

It would also help explain the revelations of former NSA official William Binney, who resigned from the agency in protest over its systemic spying on the domestic communications of US citizens, that the US government has "assembled on the order of 20 trillion transactions about US citizens with other US citizens" (which counts only communications transactions and not financial and other transactions), and that "the data that's being assembled is about everybody. And from that data, then they can target anyone they want."
MORE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/04/telephone-calls-recorded-fbi-boston


Everything that can be recorded IS being recorded and stored, Could it be more clear? Once the denial phase is over, Americans will either move on or demand change.

If the recent past is any indication, the path is clear.

But if you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to fear.

And don't forget to buy health insurance if you're not insured!

[Tinnuhana]

Teacher unions on the island were told that if you tweeted about politics, you stood a chance of getting fired for violating the Hatch Act.

[CPUd]

Every day, collection systems at the National Security Agency intercept and store 1.7 billion e-mails, phone calls and other types of communications.

This is only a small percentage of all daily digital communication. NSA are dependent on the telecoms to store their data.

[helmuth_hubener]

Shutting down government isn't going to stop data gathering by private companies. Private companies are subject to all kinds of constraints and oversight, due to them not being forcible monopolists who amuse themselves by murdering, thieving, and slaving, all with the public's approval. Private companies don't have an elaborate mythology believed by 95% of the populace regarding how everything they do is legitimate, because it's them doing it. Private companies aren't interested in gathering data in order to cage and torture critics, or anyone they don't like.

Private companies just want to make money, which in a free market is synonymous with "private companies just want to help and serve people and make them happy." Take the state out of the equation, and private companies are benign, in fact benevolent.

[Peace Piper]

This is only a small percentage of all daily digital communication. NSA are dependent on the telecoms to store their data.

They have come right out and said everything digital is being recorded. This is just denial. It's astounding.

You are being recorded when you do anything digital. Today. Right now. It's right there in print.

Americans are some of the most arrogant, delusional, pampered, lied to and gullible people the world has ever seen. Maybe the denial is because if acknowledged, it would require action, something besides sitting around playing keyboard warrior.

This is how we got here. Denial. If Ron Paul people, the smartest people in the states when it comes to politics, have trouble with reality it's no wonder the rest of the people can't see the forest through the trees.

And nothing will change until the people change it. Nothing. "They" are just waiting for everyone to fall back to sleep. Then they will ratchet up the assault to the next level. Like the boiling frog.

And "they" will probably be successful. Because that's how it has worked for the last 75 years or so.

[CPUd]

They have come right out and said everything digital is being recorded. This is just denial. It's astounding.

You are being recorded when you do anything digital. Today. Right now. It's right there in print.

Americans are some of the most arrogant, delusional, pampered, lied to and gullible people the world has ever seen. Maybe the denial is because if acknowledged, it would require action, something besides sitting around playing keyboard warrior.

This is how we got here. Denial. If Ron Paul people, the smartest people in the states when it comes to politics, have trouble with reality it's no wonder the rest of the people can't see the forest through the trees.

And nothing will change until the people change it. Nothing. "They" are just waiting for everyone to fall back to sleep. Then they will ratchet up the assault to the next level. Like the boiling frog.

And "they" will probably be successful. Because that's how it has worked for the last 75 years or so.

Where do they put a recording when it is complete?

[better-dead-than-fed]

we don't have a machine that can search voice data en masse and do mining on it like they could do with call records. If you have ever worked with speech-to-text programs, you will understand why.




they are unable to store everythingWhat limitations are you assuming on their ability to compress audio data? (compare "They're storing every call" (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?421883-Does-NSA-record-calls-or-text-messages&p=5136700&viewfull=1#post5136700))
It would depend on the method of capture and the compression format, and would be done by the provider. The NSA systems would not have much time to do any transcoding.

I have worked with speech-to-text programs, and I assume they are encoding voice-data into text, storing it as text, and mining the text.

[Philhelm]

Technology isn't the problem.

Government is!

The government we have now must be made an example of so as to deter any future government from such behavior.

Agreed. The blazing wrath of justice should be so terrible to behold that for 1,000 years all those in government will speak of U.S. patriots with awe and terror and hold their loved ones close for fear of losing them.

[tod evans]

Agreed. The blazing wrath of justice should be so terrible to behold that for 1,000 years all those in government will speak of U.S. patriots with awe and terror and hold their loved ones close for fear of losing them.

Here, here!

[TheTexan]

Most people will never encrypt everything end-to-end as it's too bothersome for routine things so yes they can and will monitor everything. I dont think phone calls are recorded by Skype's are and can be accessed in real time.

That, and also if encryption is ever used effectively to counter the Eye of Sauron, they'll just make encryption illegal.