Obama wants to know

Obama: Collecting Data and Tracking Americans

We’re not going to subpoena reporters in the future. We don’t need to. We know who you’re talking to.

This is embarrassingly funny. The WSJ reports that the NSA's new Utah data center has suffered 10 meltdowns in the past 13 months because of electrical surges. The NSA is basically using so much power in its spying efforts that it is poetically killing its data centers. Go To Site

Germany's president, who helped expose the workings of East Germany's dreaded Stasi secret police, said whistleblowers like U.S. fugitive Edward Snowden deserved respect for defending freedom... After the fall of communism, Gauck, a dissident Lutheran pastor, headed a commission in charge of the Stasi's vast archive of files on people it had spied on, using them to root out former Stasi members and collaborators. Go To Site

The Health and Human Services Department earlier this year exposed just how vast the government's data collection efforts will be on millions of Americans as a result of ObamaCare. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., asked HHS to provide "a complete list of agencies that will interact with the Federal Data Services Hub." The Hub is a central feature of ObamaCare, since it will be used by the new insurance exchanges to determine eligibility for benefits, exemptions from the federal mandate, and how much to grant in federal insurance subsidies. Go To Site

Democrat, Hypocrisy, Liberal, Government, Obama, Oops, Bigbrother

The National Security Agency is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of US customers of Verizon, one of America's largest telecoms providers, under a top secret court order issued in April.

  The order, a copy of which has been obtained by the Guardian, requires Verizon on an "ongoing, daily basis" to give the NSA information on all telephone calls in its systems, both within the US and between the US and other countries.

  The document shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of US citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk – regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing.

Democrat, Liberal, Obama, Press, Bigbrother

The Justice Department spied extensively on Fox News reporter James Rosen in 2010, collecting his telephone records, tracking his movements in and out of the State Department and seizing two days of Rosen’s personal emails, the Washington Post reported on Monday.

  In a chilling move sure to rile defenders of civil liberties, an FBI agent also accused Rosen of breaking anti-espionage law with behavior that—as described in the agent's own affidavit—falls well inside the bounds of traditional news reporting.

Democrat, Liberal, Government, Obama, Bigbrother

America’s spy agency has been tapping links between global data centers of the Internet giants. The National Security Agency has gained access to Google and Yahoo’s cloud networks and downloaded massive amounts of data including from Americans, according to the latest revelation on leaks from Edward Snowden, this time in the Washington Post.

Democrat, Liberal, Government, Obama, Oops, Bigbrother, Lie

The Obama administration issued misleading figures about terrorist plots foiled by the National Security Agency’s warrantless mass-collection of records of Americans’ every phone call, NSA chief Gen. Keith Alexander admitted to lawmakers Wednesday.

The Internal Revenue Service is collecting a lot more than taxes this year -- it's also acquiring a huge volume of personal information on taxpayers' digital activities, from eBay auctions to Facebook posts and, for the first time ever, credit card and e-payment transaction records, as it expands its search for tax cheats to places it's never gone before. Go To Site

Democrat, Liberal, Government, Obama, Bigbrother, Constitution

The NSA has cast a massive dragnet over Americans' international communications, collecting and monitoring all of them, and retaining some untold number of them in government databases. This is precisely the kind of generalized spying that the Fourth Amendment was intended to prohibit. -Jameel Jaffer, ACLU

Democrat, Liberal, Government, Obama, Bigbrother

The U.S. government has demanded that major Internet companies divulge users' stored passwords, according to two industry sources familiar with these orders, which represent an escalation in surveillance techniques that has not previously been disclosed. If the government is able to determine a person's password, which is typically stored in encrypted form, the credential could be used to log in to an account to peruse confidential correspondence or even impersonate the user.

Democrat, Liberal, Government, Obama, Fascism, Bigbrother

U.S. border agents should continue to be allowed to search a traveler’s laptop, cellphone or other electronic device and keep copies of any data on them based on no more than a hunch, according to an internal Homeland Security Department study.

Democrat, Liberal, Tax, Obama, Bigbrother

According to reports, the IRS is investigating Americans’ Facebook pages and Twitter feeds if they see a red flag on your tax return. Judge Andrew Napolitano said although the idea of the government doing this might sound “morally offensive” to some, it’s really not surprising that it’s apparently happening.

"The President has put in place an organization with the kind of database that no one has ever seen before in life," Representative Maxine Waters told Roland Martin on Monday. "That's going to be very, very powerful," Waters said. Go To Site

Democrat, Liberal, Obama, Bigbrother

The U.S. government is expanding a cybersecurity program that scans Internet traffic headed into and out of defense contractors to include far more of the country's private, civilian-run infrastructure. As a result, more private sector employees than ever before, including those at big banks, utilities and key transportation companies, will have their emails and Web surfing scanned as a precaution against cyber attacks.

Democrat, Liberal, Government, Obama, Financial, Bigbrother

The Obama administration is drawing up plans to give all U.S. spy agencies full access to a massive database that contains financial data on American citizens and others who bank in the country, according to a Treasury Department document seen by Reuters. The proposed plan represents a major step by U.S. intelligence agencies to spot and track down terrorist networks and crime syndicates by bringing together financial databanks, criminal records and military intelligence.

Democrat, Liberal, Government, Obama, Character, Fascism, AntiAmerican, Bigbrother, Constitution

In a secret government agreement granted without approval or debate from lawmakers, the U.S. attorney general recently gave the National Counterterrorism Center sweeping new powers to store dossiers on U.S. citizens, even if they are not suspected of a crime, according to a news report. Earlier this year, Attorney General Eric Holder granted the center the ability to copy entire government databases holding information on flight records, casino-employee lists, the names of Americans hosting foreign-exchange students and other data, and to store it for up to five years, even without suspicion that someone in the database has committed a crime, according to the Wall Street Journal, which broke the story.

It's very powerful what he's leaving in place...

"The President has put in place an organization with the kind of database that no one has ever seen before in life... That database will have information about everything on every individual on ways that it's never been done before... And he's been very smart. It's very powerful what he's leaving in place."

Democrat, Hypocrisy, Liberal, Government, Obama, Fascism, Bigbrother

Top U.S. intelligence officials gathered in the White House Situation Room in March to debate a controversial proposal. Counterterrorism officials wanted to create a government dragnet, sweeping up millions of records about U.S. citizens—even people suspected of no crime. Not everyone was on board. "This is a sea change in the way that the government interacts with the general public," Mary Ellen Callahan, chief privacy officer of the Department of Homeland Security, argued in the meeting, according to people familiar with the discussions. A week later, the attorney general signed the changes into effect.

The ATF doesn’t just want a huge database to reveal everything about you with a few keywords. It wants one that can find out who you know. And it won’t even try to friend you on Facebook first. According to a recent solicitation from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the bureau is looking to buy a “massive online data repository system” for its Office of Strategic Intelligence and Information (OSII). The system is intended to operate for at least five years, and be able to process automated searches of individuals, and “find connection points between two or more individuals” by linking together “structured and unstructured data.” Go To Site

Democrat, Liberal, Obama, Bigbrother, Justice

Washington (CNN) -- The FBI says it is merely "fine-tuning" some of its rules on conducting investigations, but the ACLU claims the changes amount to granting agents "broad new powers" to snoop.

Government, Obama, Bigbrother

Justice Department is expected to tell federal appeals court, in first case of its kind, that no warrant is required to obtain previous location data. Read this blog post by Declan McCullagh on Politics and Law.

Democrat, Liberal, Obama, Oops, Bigbrother, Islam

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Council on American-Islamic Relations are separately calling for investigations into White House funding of a domestic spying program launched by the New York Police Department against Muslim-Americans. The AP reported Monday that White House funds managed by the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program went to buy equipment and vehicles for a domestic surveillance program designed to infiltrate Muslim groups.

Democrat, Hypocrisy, Liberal, Obama, Bigbrother

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has quietly released details of plans to continuously monitor the global output of Facebook, Twitter and other social networks, offering a rare glimpse into an activity that the FBI and other government agencies are reluctant to discuss publicly.

Midwest farmers were outraged to hear that Lisa Jackson and the EPA were spying on ranches in surveillance planes. Rep. Tom Latham sent a letter to the EPA demanding answers on this controversial practice. In his letter Lathan argued, “No federal agency has the right to treat the American farmer like the Taliban.” Go To Site

Government, Obama, Bigbrother

The government is creating a vast domestic spying network to collect information about Americans in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks and subsequent terror plots, The Washington Post reported Monday.

Government, Obama, Bigbrother

Josh Gerstein over at Politico sent Threat Level his piece underscoring once again President Barack Obama is not the civil-liberties knight in shining armor

Government, Obama, Bigbrother

The Obama administration is backing legislation that includes regulations requiring U.S. businesses to provide to the government data about employee pay as it relates to the sex, race and national origin of employees.

Democrat, Liberal, Government, Obama, Bigbrother

The Obama administration is seeking to make it easier for the FBI to compel companies to turn over records of an individual's Internet activity without a court order if agents deem the information relevant to a terrorism or intelligence investigation.

“He has taken all the Bush changes he basically put them into the establishment, he has codified them,” Stone told RT. “It is an Orwellian state. It might not be oppressive on the surface, but there is no place to hide. Some part of you is going to end up in the database somewhere.” Go To Site

Democrat, Liberal, Obama, Bigbrother, Socialism, Healthcare

In a proposed rule from Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the federal government is demanding insurance companies submit detailed health care information about their patients.

Government, Obama, Bigbrother

Federal law enforcement agencies have been tracking Americans in real-time using credit cards, loyalty cards and travel reservations without getting a court order, a new document released under a government sunshine request shows.

Democrat, Liberal, Obama, Character, Brilliance, Oops, Smears, Bigbrother

Obama for America, the official campaign organization, recently rolled out AttackWatch.com. The website allows visitors to file reports when someone criticizes the president or his policies and purports to provide "the facts" to counter such "smears." The site's Twitter feed is attracting plenty of reports, but not necessarily the kind that campaign staff was expecting.

Democrat, Hypocrisy, Liberal, Obama, Bigbrother

The U.S. intelligence community will be able to store information about Americans with no ties to terrorism for up to five years under new Obama administration guidelines. Until now, the National Counterterrorism Center had to destroy immediately information about Americans that already was stored in other government databases when there were no clear ties to terrorism.

Democrat, Liberal, Government, Obama, Fascism, Bigbrother

There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.

On Jan. 3, outgoing Attorney General Loretta Lynch secretly signed an order directing the National Security Agency -- America’s 60,000-person-strong domestic spying apparatus -- to make available raw spying data to all other federal intelligence agencies, which then can pass it on to their counterparts in foreign countries and in the 50 states upon request.

  She did so, she claimed, for administrative convenience. Yet in doing this, she violated basic constitutional principles that were erected centuries ago to prevent just what she did. -Andrew Napolitano Go To Site