tangent4ronpaul
01-23-2014, 05:27 AM
Whoa Nelly! - not so fast! Take a look at that number again: 321,000 requests in ONE YEAR! That's about a third of a million.
Is anyone else wondering: "How many customers does Verizon have anyway?" 102.8 Million. So the government is compelling Verizon to spy on 1 out of 300 of their customers...
Are we in East Germany yet, Toto?
It gets worse. As your average family unit is about 3, that means that 1:300 is the percentage of US citizens being spied on, not customers. Hay, it's in the ballpark.
And worse yet, as a single request can cover tens or even hundreds of numbers or IP addresses. Not just one. So the 1:300 number is a base, it's almost certainly a LOT MORE! Like 1:100 or 1:10...
EAKS!
Verizon says it received over 321,000 legal orders for user data in 2013
Of those, over 6,000 were court orders to provide metadata in real time.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/01/verizon-says-it-received-over-321000-legal-orders-for-user-data-in-2013/
http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/verizon-taped.jpg
Joining the parade of technology companies that are releasing "transparency reports" as a window into government legal pressure, Verizon announced on Wednesday that it received over 321,000 total orders from various American law enforcement agencies in 2013. It is the first major telecom to publish such a report. (Virtual network operator Credo Mobile did so earlier this month.)
"We do not release customer information unless authorized by law, such as a valid law enforcement demand or an appropriate request in an emergency involving the danger of death or serious physical injury," the company wrote.
However, between 2001 and 2004, Verizon and other telcos did hand over massive amounts of data to American government agencies under no statutory or other legal authority.
In October 2012, the Supreme Court declined to review a lower court ruling in a case that challenged a Bush-era law (the FISA Amendments Act) retroactively giving telecommunications firms—including Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T—legal immunity after performing warrantless wiretapping at the government’s request. By letting the lower court ruling stand, the Supreme Court effectively wiped out related cases pending against Verizon pertaining to user data handover. The court affirmed the legality of the retroactive immunity statute.
Of requests in 2013, Verizon now says that over 6,000 included "pen register or trap and trace orders," which compel carriers to hand over metadata in real-time.
As Verizon describes it: "With a pen register order we must afford real-time access to the numbers that a customer dials (or IP addresses that a customer visits); with a trap and trace order we must afford real-time access to the numbers that call a customer. Such orders do not authorize law enforcement to obtain the contents of any communication."
Additionally, Verizon said that it received 1,000 to 2,000 National Security Letters, which are under gag order by default and have been increasingly challenged in court. As the company added:
(cont)
-t
Is anyone else wondering: "How many customers does Verizon have anyway?" 102.8 Million. So the government is compelling Verizon to spy on 1 out of 300 of their customers...
Are we in East Germany yet, Toto?
It gets worse. As your average family unit is about 3, that means that 1:300 is the percentage of US citizens being spied on, not customers. Hay, it's in the ballpark.
And worse yet, as a single request can cover tens or even hundreds of numbers or IP addresses. Not just one. So the 1:300 number is a base, it's almost certainly a LOT MORE! Like 1:100 or 1:10...
EAKS!
Verizon says it received over 321,000 legal orders for user data in 2013
Of those, over 6,000 were court orders to provide metadata in real time.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/01/verizon-says-it-received-over-321000-legal-orders-for-user-data-in-2013/
http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/verizon-taped.jpg
Joining the parade of technology companies that are releasing "transparency reports" as a window into government legal pressure, Verizon announced on Wednesday that it received over 321,000 total orders from various American law enforcement agencies in 2013. It is the first major telecom to publish such a report. (Virtual network operator Credo Mobile did so earlier this month.)
"We do not release customer information unless authorized by law, such as a valid law enforcement demand or an appropriate request in an emergency involving the danger of death or serious physical injury," the company wrote.
However, between 2001 and 2004, Verizon and other telcos did hand over massive amounts of data to American government agencies under no statutory or other legal authority.
In October 2012, the Supreme Court declined to review a lower court ruling in a case that challenged a Bush-era law (the FISA Amendments Act) retroactively giving telecommunications firms—including Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T—legal immunity after performing warrantless wiretapping at the government’s request. By letting the lower court ruling stand, the Supreme Court effectively wiped out related cases pending against Verizon pertaining to user data handover. The court affirmed the legality of the retroactive immunity statute.
Of requests in 2013, Verizon now says that over 6,000 included "pen register or trap and trace orders," which compel carriers to hand over metadata in real-time.
As Verizon describes it: "With a pen register order we must afford real-time access to the numbers that a customer dials (or IP addresses that a customer visits); with a trap and trace order we must afford real-time access to the numbers that call a customer. Such orders do not authorize law enforcement to obtain the contents of any communication."
Additionally, Verizon said that it received 1,000 to 2,000 National Security Letters, which are under gag order by default and have been increasingly challenged in court. As the company added:
(cont)
-t