The NSA is saying: We do spy, but we don’t read content of emails and phone calls. We just keep ‘records’ of the communications.
The lies lying liars tell.
At one time, circa 2013, spying on everybody was considered outrageous. Now it’s “necessary.”
I’m reprinting my article from 2013 below. But first, a quick bit of history concerning two little known Israeli companies, Narus and Verint. They have helped the NSA spy on the planet.
Narus, in 2010, was folded into Boeing, one of the largest defense contractors in the world. Then, in 2014, Boeing sold Narus to Symantec. In 2016, Symantec sold half of itself to the notorious Carlyle Group. So Narus, a little engine that could, has been keeping very high-priced company.
Verint has managed to retain its independence, after buying out the majority stake of Comverse Technology, its former owner, in 2013.
Okay, here we go—from this point on, everything was written in 2013:
2013. Boom. Explosive revelations. The NSA is using telecom giants to spy on anybody and everybody, in a program called PRISM.
But the information is not new.
Three books have been written about the super-secret NSA, and James Bamford has written them all.
In 2008, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now interviewed Bamford as his latest book, The Shadow Factory, was being released.
Bamford explained that, in the 1990s, everything changed for NSA. Previously, they’d been able to intercept electronic communications by using big dishes to capture what was coming down to Earth from telecom satellites.
But with the shift to fiber-optic cables, NSA was shut out. So they devised new methods.
For example, they set up a secret spy room at an AT&T office in San Francisco. NSA installed new equipment that enabled them to tap into the fiber-optic cables and suck up all traffic.
How Bamford describes this, in 2008, tells you exactly where the PRISM program came from:
“NSA began making these agreements with AT&T and other companies, and that in order to get access to the actual cables, they had to build these secret rooms in these buildings.
Be seeing you