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ACLU Files Complaints Over NSA Surveillance in 20 States

By Jeralyn, Section War on Terror
Posted on Wed May 24, 2006 at 10:33:09 AM EST
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As Attorney General Alberto Gonzales defends the NSA warrantless surveillance using a 1979 case on pen registers, the ACLU has filed complaints in 20 states today to stop Bush's warrantless surveillance of our phone records.

In nationally-coordinated filings the ACLU and its supporters are demanding action at the FCC in Washington and in the following states: Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.

The group also has taken out ads in major newspapers today.

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    ACLU Files Complaints Over NSA Surveillance in 20 States | 12 comments (12 topical)
    Re: ACLU Files Complaints Over NSA Surveillance in (none / 0) (#1)
    by squeaky on Wed May 24, 2006 at 11:18:55 AM EST
    An uphill battle. War is proving itself to be a perfect vehicle (trojan horse) for implementing a fascist agenda.
    The Federal Communications Commission will not pursue complaints about the National Security Agency's access to millions of telephone records because it cannot obtain classified material, the commission's chairman said in a letter released on Tuesday.
    NYT via think progress Think Progresshas more:
    This week, six private citizens -- including author Studs Terkel -- joined the ACLU in a lawsuit against AT&T, claiming the company gave the NSA "sensitive information about massive numbers of domestic phone calls." But AT&T and the government may force the courts to shut down the case. With increasing frequency, the Bush administration is employing the state secrets privilege, "a once-rare tactic that essentially gives the government a blank check to kill civil suits." (Verizon picked up the administration's lead and invoked the privilege to shield itself from public scrutiny over the NSA surveillance program.)
    Re: ACLU Files Complaints Over NSA Surveillance in (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed May 24, 2006 at 01:35:36 PM EST
    FWIW, i found this April 2006 link describing the scale of the breach of information integrity available through the data-mining NARUS 6400 technology. Some excerpts: How powerful is this? OC-192 carries about 10 gigabits of data per second. Ten billion bits per second, monitored in real-time. That is stunning. This is one damned powerful machine, one of the most powerful I've ever heard of in 25 years in IT. (snip) It looks at the the data in a more comprehensive way than looking for keywords. Each NarusInsight machine does this at 2500 million bits per second, in real-time. You really wonder why BushCo doesn't want to talk about this stuff? It's the biggest invasion of privacy in history by several orders of magnitude. (snip) That's what it appears we are up against, folks. Real-time semantic data monitoring on a huge scale. A scale beyond what most of us can even comprehend. It's scarey. (from bewert's april 7th post) URL:http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/4/8/14724/28476/ link

    Re: ACLU Files Complaints Over NSA Surveillance in (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed May 24, 2006 at 03:17:52 PM EST
    Just for the record, these are FCC complaints, not complaints initiating lawsuits. I was really impressed for a second (and astonished - I don't really think of the ACLU as having those kind of balls. Well, I guess they don't...).

    Re: ACLU Files Complaints Over NSA Surveillance in (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed May 24, 2006 at 09:02:23 PM EST
    somewhat related, on a larger sense, but skippy is just sick and tired of it all.

    Re: ACLU Files Complaints Over NSA Surveillance in (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed May 24, 2006 at 09:16:31 PM EST
    Better hope that no intel that could have stopped an attack is missed because of the ACLU. Sometimes if you want to connect the dots it helps to have a lot of dots. BTW Neville Chamberlain Was A Man of Peace.

    Re: ACLU Files Complaints Over NSA Surveillance in (none / 0) (#6)
    by jondee on Wed May 24, 2006 at 09:45:47 PM EST
    You guys are kind of beating that Neville Chamberlain thing to death arnt you? Im sure you and ppj, Aubrey, and j.r have a long list of parallels btween Iraq, Iran and the Reich; you guys just havnt been able to find the time in the last five years to type it up and post it for the edification of the rest of us. Maybe somebody at AIPAC can help you out with that.

    Re: ACLU Files Complaints Over NSA Surveillance in (none / 0) (#7)
    by Slado on Thu May 25, 2006 at 09:15:20 AM EST
    Compelling argument that a similar program in Britain might have stopped those terrorsit bombings. But I agree with the ACLU. Stopping overhyped and unsubstatiated civil rights violations is more important then saving human lives. Weekly Standard

    Re: ACLU Files Complaints Over NSA Surveillance in (none / 0) (#8)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Thu May 25, 2006 at 09:17:04 AM EST
    M. Simon and Slado, we know full well you would be aghast at these tactics if it were anyone else employing them but the current monarchists. Thanks for putting loyalty to the Bush administration ahead of loyalty to the Bill of Rights. Some food for thought: This is not a partisan issue, it is an issue of safeguarding the fundamental freedoms of all Americans so that future administrations do not interpret our laws in ways that post constitutional concerns." David Keene, Chairman of the American Conservative Union (U.S. Newswire, 1/17/06)

    Re: ACLU Files Complaints Over NSA Surveillance in (none / 0) (#9)
    by Slado on Thu May 25, 2006 at 11:20:46 AM EST
    Ernesto, I appreciate ones concern but until someone actually shows me a case where the government has abused this power i cannot fall into the camp that would strip the government of a tool to accomplish its main goal. Protect me an American citizen from harm. All the goings on and ACLU ramblings are one thing, hypothetical. One has to ASSUME that GW is going to use this power against ordinary americans. That is a big and ridiculous assumption and should not be a reason to keep the NSA from protecting Americans. You have to prefer to put your life in the hands of blood thirsty terrorists over putting your phone records in a giant data base that has very little if not next to impossible chance of being used by the government...unless you call Pakistan to schedule car bombings on a daily basis. And if the shoe was on the other foot and Hillary Clinton was running the government I wouldn't care becase A) It'd be her right and duty and B) the Liberal media wouldn't be making such a big deal about it.

    Re: ACLU Files Complaints Over NSA Surveillance in (none / 0) (#10)
    by Sailor on Thu May 25, 2006 at 03:12:22 PM EST
    until someone actually shows me a case where the government has abused this power
    Ahhh, let's just swing for the low hanging fruit.

    Re: ACLU Files Complaints Over NSA Surveillance in (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri May 26, 2006 at 01:56:27 PM EST
    If fear of terrorists leads us to willingly give up our rights, then the terrorists have won. I'm much more fearful of the weakening of the bill of rights. The administration has admitted to warrantless wire tapping. By their own admission they've already abused this power.

    Re: ACLU Files Complaints Over NSA Surveillance in (none / 0) (#12)
    by Sailor on Fri May 26, 2006 at 05:53:11 PM EST
    So slado sez "but until someone actually shows me a case where the government has abused this power" and then we provide links as to how many times the gov't has abused this power, he cowers in the corner, pi$$ing his pants and exclaims please, please
    protect me an American citizen from harm.
    idjit! No person in the world can protect you from harm. The world's a dangerous place, it's your responsibility to wear a cup. America used to be about personal responsibility, yet now, after all their brave talk about 'accepting consequences' and 'hey, do the crime ...', these self same folks are whining about some boogey man 6,000 miles away that bush says 'doesn't matter'.
    One has to ASSUME that GW is going to use this power against ordinary americans.
    WHY!? Oh, and what part of bushco has lead you to believe this!? The part where he read 'My Pet Goat' instead of his August PDB, or the part where he said "OBL, dead or alive', or the part where he refused to go after the actual person responsible and instead attacked a country which had nothing to do with 9/11??? Sheesh!

    ACLU Files Complaints Over NSA Surveillance in 20 States | 12 comments (12 topical)