By Paul Carr
Earlier this week, Pierre Omidyar’s national security blog, The Intercept, reported that the US is recording all telephone calls made in and out of the Bahamas and one other unnamed country.
The story, co-bylined by Ryan Devereaux, Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras, explained that the Intercept had decided not to name that second “country X” due to the risk of increased violence in response.
As I wrote at the time, this decision prompted a furious response from former allies Wikileaks, which “condemn[ed] Firstlook for following the Washington Post into censoring the mass interception of an entire nation.”
Upping the stakes, Wikileaks also promised to name the redacted country withing 72 hours.
Late last night the organization made good on its promise, issuing a statement claiming that “country x” is Afghanistan…
Read the rest here.
Love the spy v. spy theater and high-jinks, but seriously, forget the material on Echelon that came out in the 1990s. Even the durn New York Times, the regime mouthpiece, admitted that warrantless tapping of cell-phones of US citizens with no direct links to terrorism, but just degrees of separation established by email and social media contacts, were having their cell phone calls abroad tapped. Tapped usually means tapes, as well.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/politics/16program.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Every immigrant I know has known for at least 10 years that our calls to our family, friends and associates abroad are tapped and that our emails are read.
Read this article through carefully and keep in mind that this is the NY Times. The tapping/taping was out in the activist/alternative press even before then.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/politics/16program.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
I'll leave everyone free to guess what these "revelations" are really about.
"admitted that warrantless tapping of cell-phones of US citizens with no direct links to terrorism, but just degrees of separation established by email and social media contacts, were having their cell phone calls abroad tapped. Tapped usually means tapes, as well."
ReplyDeleteThis is missing a section. Sorry. It should read:
"admitted that warrantless tapping of cell-phones of US citizens with no direct links to terrorism, but just degrees of separation established by email and social media contacts, WAS IN PLACE. ORDINARY PEOPLE
were having their cell phone calls abroad tapped. Tapped usually means tapeD, as well.