The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Do those words sound familiar? Increasingly, our government appears not to recall them as it pushes forward with what may be the most blatant warrantless search and seizure in history. It was revealed today that the NSA was granted a sweeping court order by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (or FISA) on April 25. This order allows the NSA to collect all of Verizon’s call history records for a three-month period ending July 19. The order included a gag requirement preventing Verizon from mentioning its existence. (In fact, Verizon was informed that by consulting a lawyer, it would be in criminal violation.) At this time, it’s unknown if other communications providers received a similar order.
The records are obtained under the “business records” provision of the Patriot Act. Interestingly, an amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in 2008 allowed for the government to conduct bulk collection of phone calls, emails, and even text messages, but this law wasn’t implemented here. Most likely, that’s because the FISA Act amendment stipulates that at least one party to the conversation is believed to be located overseas.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mark Udall (D-Col.), both members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, have repeatedly warned the American people about this type of surveillance. In a 2011 letter to the Attorney General, the Senators wrote, “…we have been concerned for some time that the U.S. is relying on secret interpretations of surveillance authorities that–in our judgment–differ significantly from the public’s understanding of what is permitted under U.S. law.” As far back as 2006, USA Today reported on the NSA, stating the agency was “secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth.” Retired AT&T engineer Mark Klein also tried to warn the public of this activity when he handed over sensitive documents to the Electronic Frontier Foundation detailing the NSA’s installation of a network monitoring facility inside a San Francisco internet switching hub at 611 Folsom Street. Unfortunately, Klein’s whistle-blowing was shut down in 2008 with the passing of the FISA Amendments Act mentioned above.
It’s abundantly clear that warrantless surveillance of the American people has bi-partisan support. The wiretapping and data collection started under the Bush administration has only continued, accelerating in pace, throughout Obama’s administration.
With today marking the anniversary of the publication of George Orwell’s 1984, perhaps it’s time to start questioning how close our society has become to the fascist regime Orwell tried to warn us about.
“With today marking the anniversary of the publication of George Orwell’s 1984, perhaps it’s time to start questioning how close our society has become to the fascist regime Orwell tried to warn us about.”
Actually, it’s an excellent opportunity to point out that it’s absolutely nothing like the Soviet Russia Orwell was writing about. Which, one might point out, wasn’t a fascist regime, either.