Paranoia theories, not conspiracy theories

[Conservationist]

Binney, the former technical director of the agency's World Geopolitical and Military Analysis Reporting Group, told Democracy Now hosts Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez that Stellar Wind, the NSA wiretapping program begun in the wake of 9/11, still has unprecedented access to private domestic communications.

When Goodman asked if the government currently has copies of all emails sent by U.S. citizens within the United States (at 46:05 in the video clip), Binney replied, "I believe they have most of them, yes."

According to Binney, the NSA receives around 320 million domestic communication records daily from telecom firms like AT&T. "They had to be given retroactive immunity for the crimes they were committing," he explained (at 50:40), referring to the U.S. Senate's decision in 2008 to reject several prominent lawsuits against internet and phone companies that were handing over customer data to the U.S. government.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/323379

If you were a government with the power to filter all email for patterns of communication, wouldn't you?

You'll get blamed if you don't and something goes wrong.

At that point, economics takes over. And is this a bad thing?

Perhaps not: we don't really have an expectation of privacy with email or other public acts.

[lafindumonde]

That's why I don't visit this website or comment on the forums, far too controversial.

[Phenoptosis]

Is there a reason this website isn't https enabled?

[Conservationist]

The Pentagon is revamping its spy operations to focus on high-priority targets like Iran and China in a reorganization that reflects a shift away from the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan that have dominated America’s security landscape for the past decade.

Under the plan approved last week by Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, case officers from the new Defense Clandestine Service would work more closely with counterparts from the Central Intelligence Agency at a time when the military and spy agency are increasingly focused on similar threats.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/24/world/asia/defense-department-plans-new-spy-service.html

CIA, NSA, NSD, and now DCS. And FBI and HS.

Wonder what they all do?

They're watching Iran, China (and Russia) for military concerns.

This leaves the NSA monitoring domestically -- this is a good thing, since we're awash in spies and people who hate us.

But it leads me to ask: wouldn't it be easier to be ethnically, religiously and culturally homogenous? So we could stop spying on ourselves and lessen the paranoia?