NSA Defenders Claim PRISM Helped Stop NYC Subway Bombing; Actual Evidence Suggests It Didn't
from the so-much-for-that dept
You knew this was coming. In the wake of the revelations about the NSA surveillance program, defenders of the system are now trying to claim that PRISM was responsible for stopping a plot to bomb the NYC subways by Najibullah Zazi. However, as people looked into the details, they pointed out that this didn't make much sense and, further, that detailed public reports already make it clear that traditional police work had uncovered Zazi's plot, not PRISM.The details of terror investigations are not always laid out this clearly in public; but they appear to belie the notion, advanced by anonymous government officials Friday, that sweeping access to millions of email accounts played an important roil in foiling the subway attack. Instead, this is the sort investigation made possible by ordinary warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act; authorities appear simply to have been monitoring the Pakistani email account that had been linked to terrorists earlier that year.That report, by Buzzfeed's Ben Smith has a lot more details.
Of course, there's a separate point in all of this: even if PRISM had been used to stop this plot, that says nothing about whether or not the program is appropriate. I'm sure that we could stop all sorts of terrorist plots and activity if the US government was able to send soldiers door to door searching every house in the country and installing cameras inside our homes. But, most everyone would agree that's a blatant violation of our rights.
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Filed Under: fisa, mike rogers, najibullah zazi, nsa, nsa surveillance, prism
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It will lie after lie, knowingly told.
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I'm still waiting for you to start claiming that PRISM violates the Fourth Amendment. I'm sure someone else will make a plausible sounding argument soon that it does so you can then latch onto it and milk it for all it's worth. We all know you decided it was unconstitutional the minute you heard about it. The boring details and analysis are irrelevant with your results-oriented style of "analysis."
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https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/06/government-says-secret-court-opinion-law-underlyi ng-prism-program-needs-stay
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Just as most of know that shit stinks as soon as we see it without having to stick our noses in it.
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We passed the PATRIOT act, but more terrorist plots like the Shoe Bombers almost happened, without the PATRIOT act doing any good!
No problem, pass even more intrusive laws, they're bound to give us a tip off the next time! Then a terrorist attack happens that we failed to stop!
No Problem, we just need to start looking through everyone's phone calls and emails! But then that fails to stop another terrorist attack, or help to foil one that almost happens!
No Problem! We can just install hidden cameras and microphones in everyone's homes, including bathrooms and bedrooms! (how else can we get young volunteers to watch all those millions of hours of footage we compile to find actual terrorist threats?). But then ANOTHER terrorist attack happens or almost happens without our new measures doing any good!
No Problem! We just force everyone to wear an ankle bracelet 24/7 that keeps an eye on them, and can give you an electric shock whenever you do anything 'bad', like bad mouth the ankle bracelet!
If that STILL fails to stop a terrorist plot, or help to almost foil one, no problem! We just start throwing EVERYONE in jail. That way there's no one left to commit a terrorist attack, since they're all in jail in the name of terrorism and pre-emptive arresting!
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Or maybe it would be easier to just ban heterosexual sex, since ALL terrorists and ALL crime are a direct result of heterosexual sex!
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But then who would they track? If there's no one to track, they can't justify buying all this nifty equipment (aka pork) to track them? And if they can't direct lucrative contracts now, who will hire them later when they retire? Please think these things through before you wildly speculate and make rash statements.
Please, there's no profit in feeding the hungry. Now 'organic' fertilizer...
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It does not matter how many times people say that, it is still not the correct definition.
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Really sad
The really sad part of this sentence is -- "most"!
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New Plan...
FBI to NSA: Sure if you carve us out a little space in you new fangled data center and we get to take credit for stopping it as long as we give you the credit for finding it.
NSA to FBI: Deal.
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china
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China has that cool wall that you can see from space. You cannot compete with something THAT cool.
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You know, I was once proud of the US, then I realized the US I was proud of no longer existed. That got me so I was just kind of indifferent... Then Obama comes along and makes me flat out embarrassed to admit I have anything to do with this country. I'm still holding onto the hope that maybe we can drag it back to what it should be though.
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"This is both an ongoing matter, and an ongoing matter about which I know nothing," Holder replied.
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Nothing has changed. This is the belief that if they can slide through this unscathed, all will return to their normal. This is the scandal that the GOP needs to be looking at but then, they support it to so you will likely hear not much in the line of bickering on it because that would come back to haunt them in who supported The Patriot Act.
No they are waiting for it to all blow over. There is not any sort of "this is wrong" mentality in the whole batch it appears.
What they want to do is cover it up, grab the whistle blower and prosecute him as a spy. Business as usual and it flat out doesn't cut it.
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Mike Masnick, do you love America? Your article doesn't even consider reasonable, patriotic explanations so I have to say it doesn't look like it. You can't love the Constitution and hate elected, representative Government.
And the 4th Amendment doesn't say, "nobody can ever be searched mkay bai." It actually sets up a system where the Courts have to decide if a search is Reasonable and based on accusation of some sort. It says nothing about telling you the details. It is the Court that needs to have seen and approved the details. It seems you're not even sure what is in the Constitution, what American's Rights are.
One right we don't have is the right not to be lied to by sensational and false news stories, like the one the Washington Post ran that started this kerfuffle. And that's good, the 1st Amendment is a better right. But while not a right, good Journalism would really enhance the rest of our rights. Too bad we'll never have it.
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If the elected, representative Government isn't actually representative and is actually corrupt, then a love of the Constitution pretty much requires you to hate them.
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It's not about loving or hating. But, seriously, if you love the Constitution and you have a government seeking to undermine the Constitution, how is your above statement truthful?
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There it is. How exactly has the government undermined, i.e., violated, the Constitution?
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Government Violating Constitution...
Even just sticking to the 4th Amendment's use of the term "unreasonable" ... being a societal standard, you would be hard pressed to get half the world (because they aren't just looking at domestic emails) to agree that looking into every email and phone call is anything but "unreasonable" ... I doubt even half the U.S. would find it reasonable.
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But you are improving my typing skills.
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Of course, knowing our government it's: P@$$w0rd
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The terrorists have finally won.
God save America.
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Coincidence, Or Not?..
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petition against PRISM
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