NSA Twice Chose To Forgo Privacy Protections In Domestic Data Mining Programs - EmptyWheel

[WillyT]

NSA Twice Chose to Forgo Privacy Protections in Domestic Data Mining Programs
By: emptywheel
Saturday May 21, 2011 9:13 am

<snip>

While Jane Mayer’s profile on NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/05/23/110523fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=all has generated a lot of attention for the way Obama’s DOJ is senselessly prosecuting him, there has been less focus on the key revelation that Drake and others went on the record to reveal in Mayer’s story: that the NSA chose not to integrate the privacy protections from a program called ThinThread into its illegal domestic surveillance program.

Pilot tests of ThinThread proved almost too successful, according to a former intelligence expert who analyzed it. “It was nearly perfect,” the official says. “But it processed such a large amount of data that it picked up more Americans than the other systems.” Though ThinThread was intended to intercept foreign communications, it continued documenting signals when a trail crossed into the U.S. This was a big problem: federal law forbade the monitoring of domestic communications without a court warrant. And a warrant couldn’t be issued without probable cause and a known suspect. In order to comply with the law, installed privacy controls and added an “anonymizing feature,” so that all American communications would be encrypted until a warrant was issued. The system would indicate when a pattern looked suspicious enough to justify a warrant.

<snip>

When Binney heard the rumors, he was convinced that the new domestic-surveillance program employed components of ThinThread: a bastardized version, stripped of privacy controls. “It was my brainchild,” he said. “But they removed the protections, the anonymization process. When you remove that, you can target anyone.” He said that although he was not “read in” to the new secret surveillance program, “my people were brought in, and they told me, ‘Can you believe they’re doing this? They’re getting billing records on U.S. citizens! They’re putting pen registers’ ”—logs of dialled phone numbers—“ ‘on everyone in the country!’ ”

<snip>

<Former HPSCI staffer Diane Roark> asked Hayden why the N.S.A. had chosen not to include privacy protections for Americans. She says that he “kept not answering. Finally, he mumbled, and looked down, and said, ‘We didn’t need them. We had the power.’ He didn’t even look me in the eye. I was flabbergasted.” She asked him directly if the government was getting warrants for domestic surveillance, and he admitted that it was not. <my emphasis>

<snip>

Much More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2011/05/21/nsa-twice-chose-to-forgo-privacy-protections-in-domestic-data-mining-programs/

:wtf:

:mad:

:kick:

[ixion]

1. when what you're doing is unconstitutional from the get-go, why waste time

trying to pretend like you give a rat's ass about the 4th Amendment.

[WillyT]

2. Yep... And Unfortunately...

The Powers That Be have set about to prove Bin Laden correct.

Scare the American people, and they will fold up their principles and their constitution in a heartbeat.

Gone... but not forgotten.

[CelticThunder]

3. And this illegal program violating our rights is continuing with Obama's blessing.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. I'm glad that we're seeing more of these articles on DU.

It's time to fight back at these abuses. If they can take these extremes, they can also pinpoint whoever they want to blackball and impoverish.