Secret US court renews US phone surveillance program

Deutsche Welle, 20 July 2013

A secret US intelligence court has renewed a surveillance program that orders Verizon to hand over millions of phone records to the government. The program was among those revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The office of National Intelligence Director James Clapper said Friday the program was set to expire but that they had sought and received renewal from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court. The secret surveillance program, which has been in place for years, must be renewed every three months.

Clapper's office said in a statement that they were confirming the renewal of the program, the existence of which only became public knowledge after it was leaked last month, in an effort to be more transparent.

Along with Verizon, other major telephone carriers are ordered under the program to provide records of their customers' calls, known as metadata, to the National Security Agency (NSA).

Under a separate program, known as "PRISM," the NSA has the ability to access the data streams of major US companies like Yahoo, Facebook, Microsoft and Google, to collect emails, video chats, pictures and more.

Spying concerns

The government says the programs only target foreign suspects outside the US, but the documents leaked by Snowden indicate that the data collection goes far beyond the confines the government says it has established.

The information revealed by Snowden has sparked a worldwide debate on privacy and concerns over whether Washington is illegally spying on people both in the US and abroad.

Earlier on Friday, the counsel for the Director of National Intelligence, Robert Litt, reaffirmed the government's position that "these programs are legal" because they're authorized by Congress, the courts and the White House. Litt also said that officials were working to declassify information on the recently-revealed programs.

"One of the hurdles to declassification earlier was that the existence of the programs was classified," Litt said during a question-and-answer after a speech at the Brookings Institution. "It's very hard to think about releasing the opinion that says a particular program is legal if you're not going to disclose what the program is. Now that the program has been declassified we're going back and we're looking at these opinions."

dr/jm (Reuters, AP)

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"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“…  Government

Let us speak of government. We're not speaking of your government, but of any government - the way it works, how it survives, how it has survived, the way it campaigns, and how it elects leaders. It's going to change.

Years ago, I told you, "When everybody can talk to everybody, there can be no secrets." Up to this point on this planet, government has counted on one thing - that the people can't easily talk to each other on a global scale. They have to get their information through government or official channels. Even mass media isn't always free enough, for it reports that which the government reports. Even a free society tends to bias itself according to the bias of the times. However, when you can have Human Beings talking to each other all at once, all over the planet without government control, it all changes, for there is open revelation of truth.

Democracy itself will change and you're going to see it soon. The hold-outs, the few countries I have mentioned in the past, are doomed unless they recalibrate. They're doomed to be the same as they have been and won't be able to exist as they are now with everyone changing around them.

I mentioned North Korea in the past. Give it time. Right now, the young man is under the control of his father's advisors. But when they're gone, you will see something different, should he survive. Don't judge him yet, for he is being controlled.

In government, if you're entire voting base has the ability to talk to itself without restriction and comes up with opinions by itself without restriction, it behooves a politician to be aware and listen to them. This will change what politicians will do. It will change the way things work in government. Don't be surprised when some day a whole nation can vote all at once in a very unusual way. Gone will be the old systems where you used to count on horseback riders to report in from faraway places. Some of you know what I am talking about. Government will change. The systems around you, both dark and light, will change. You're going to start seeing something else, too, so let's change the subject and turn the page. …”