6 ms·

Senator Feinstein Admits the NSA Taps the Internet Backbone

106 points by antsar 13y ago

devx 13y ago
Throw her in a federal prison for "hurting national security" and for being a "spy and traitor". Fortunately, she didn't manage to "defect" to some of US' enemies - like Russia - so it should be easy enough to arrest her and keep her there for a year before we come up with a solid list of charges. Oh - what say you? She's a Senator that has immunity and can't be imprisoned for leaking NSA's classified information? Well, that's great news! I expect a lot more senators to come forward with other juicy classified NSA information then...
frank_boyd 13y ago
So this should make her a terrrerist then.
- HarryHirsch 13y ago
  In a way this is true. If anyone can come up with a definition of terrorism, it's causing an outrage for political purpose. The Snowden revelations and the subsequent revelations have certainly changed the political landscape, just like the Red Army Faction did back then, consequently, yes, Sen. Feinstein qualifies.
  - venomsnake 13y ago
    So was Nixon with the pulled out his ass war on drugs. And Tipper Gore for the "metal hurts our kids".
detcader 13y ago
She also apparently doesn't even understand the NSA violations that she was trying to talk about [1] [1] http://www.emptywheel.net/2013/09/27/whoa-whoa-whoa-stop-dianne-feinstein-misstates-the-2011-violations/ http://www.emptywheel.net/2013/09/27/whoa-whoa-whoa-stop-dia...
- j-g-faustus 13y ago
  I was struck by this part: "FEINSTEIN: [...] upstream collection [...] comprises about 10 percent of all collection that takes place under 702, and occurs when NSA obtains Internet communications, such as e-mails, from certain U.S. companies that operate the Internet [backbone]" If vacuuming the internet backbone is only 10% of the data they collect, where the hell do they find enough data to fill the remaining 90%? Phone calls/SMS? Banks/payments? Encryption they can't break, so they have to ask the endpoint, like Lavabit?
  - pyre 13y ago
    It's possible that this is a misunderstanding of terms. It seems reasonable that when the NSA pulls up all data on a single person only 10% of it comes from the Internet firehose, and the other 90% comes from Facebook/Google/etc. They may be sucking up all of the Internet, but are not able to correlate is to a person 100% of the time in an automated fashion.
o0-0o 13y ago
Liberal Senatrix from Cali that says, "The chase is on" while referring to Snowden. What a fat, disgusting, old hypocrite.
- cscurmudgeon 13y ago
  Really?
- whyenot 13y ago
  I know some people have very strong feeling about her, but come on, HN used to be better than this. Criticize what she has done, not her appearance / age.
  - contingencies 13y ago
    I'm willing to overlook people's self image related qualms with this post on account of how impressed I am by the neologism Senatrix. Hilarious! More like this :)
bsullivan01 13y ago
She's an opportunist scumbag. Usually the liberal (and libertarian) ones are against a surveillance state, but she has no core, no backbone.
- bediger4000 13y ago
  Or perhaps she's been compromised: Apparently, ex-California Representative Jane Harman made an appearance on a NSA wiretap (http://www.salon.com/2009/04/20/harman/ http://www.salon.com/2009/04/20/harman/). If you read that Salon article, after getting caught dealing with AIPAC, AG Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez intervened, and Rep Harman went on to "became probably the most crucial defender of the Bush warrantless eavesdropping program". To be 100% fair here, it sounds like some ethics and accountability offices did want to have Harman prosecuted, but the Bush administration intervened to get Harman off the hook. Apparently they went on to use that as leverage on Harman. So, it's been done before. The results looked like what Feinstein is doing now.
  - mmagin 13y ago
    Even back as far as when she was mayor of San Francisco, it's not clear that she was particularly liberal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianne_Feinstein#Mayor_of_San_Francisco https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianne_Feinstein#Mayor_of_San_...
unoio 13y ago
Feinstein is a hypocritical old hag. On one hand she says that the American people do not need access to semi-automatic rifles because government tyranny won't happen when we have a democratically elected government. On the other hand she is one of the biggest proponents of the surveillance state. We must also not forget that she made sure she got her concealed handgun license when Harvey Milk was assassinated when it was damn near impossible to get one as a regular citizen. She supports laws that make it hard for law-abiding citizens to have access to firearms. Typical "Do as I say, not as I do" politician.
warmfuzzykitten 13y ago
I doubt she has any idea what an internet backbone is.
- thrownaway2424 13y ago
  Nobody does, because it's not a thing which exists.
  - hnriot 13y ago
    Sure it is. Ever hear of routers and fiber cables and switches ...
- weland 13y ago
  She has no idea what a backbone is, of any kind.
icecreampain 13y ago
At this point, I'll believe anything about US spying, no matter how ludicrous. If someone told me that the NSA has spent billions setting up spying stations on Mars and Pluto, I'd figure that it seems like a really small amount compared to how many tax dollars they COULD have spent building bases there.
javajosh 13y ago
Don't talk to the police, because it strips away your 5th amendment protection against self-incrimination. [1] Under the NSA's universal surveillance regime, you are always talking to the police. So, not only does PRISM, etc violate the 1st and 4th amendments, but it makes the 5th amendment all but useless. I mean, I guess I'm okay with shredding the constitution if that's what the majority of american's want, but something tells me they don't want that. [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wXkI4t7nuc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wXkI4t7nuc

106 points by antsar 13y ago

devx 13y ago

Throw her in a federal prison for "hurting national security" and for being a "spy and traitor". Fortunately, she didn't manage to "defect" to some of US' enemies - like Russia - so it should be easy enough to arrest her and keep her there for a year before we come up with a solid list of charges. Oh - what say you? She's a Senator that has immunity and can't be imprisoned for leaking NSA's classified information? Well, that's great news! I expect a lot more senators to come forward with other juicy classified NSA information then...

frank_boyd 13y ago

So this should make her a terrrerist then.

HarryHirsch 13y ago
In a way this is true. If anyone can come up with a definition of terrorism, it's causing an outrage for political purpose. The Snowden revelations and the subsequent revelations have certainly changed the political landscape, just like the Red Army Faction did back then, consequently, yes, Sen. Feinstein qualifies.
- venomsnake 13y ago
  So was Nixon with the pulled out his ass war on drugs. And Tipper Gore for the "metal hurts our kids".

detcader 13y ago

She also apparently doesn't even understand the NSA violations that she was trying to talk about [1] [1] http://www.emptywheel.net/2013/09/27/whoa-whoa-whoa-stop-dianne-feinstein-misstates-the-2011-violations/ http://www.emptywheel.net/2013/09/27/whoa-whoa-whoa-stop-dia...

j-g-faustus 13y ago
I was struck by this part: "FEINSTEIN: [...] upstream collection [...] comprises about 10 percent of all collection that takes place under 702, and occurs when NSA obtains Internet communications, such as e-mails, from certain U.S. companies that operate the Internet [backbone]" If vacuuming the internet backbone is only 10% of the data they collect, where the hell do they find enough data to fill the remaining 90%? Phone calls/SMS? Banks/payments? Encryption they can't break, so they have to ask the endpoint, like Lavabit?
- pyre 13y ago
  It's possible that this is a misunderstanding of terms. It seems reasonable that when the NSA pulls up all data on a single person only 10% of it comes from the Internet firehose, and the other 90% comes from Facebook/Google/etc. They may be sucking up all of the Internet, but are not able to correlate is to a person 100% of the time in an automated fashion.

o0-0o 13y ago

Liberal Senatrix from Cali that says, "The chase is on" while referring to Snowden. What a fat, disgusting, old hypocrite.

cscurmudgeon 13y ago
Really?
whyenot 13y ago
I know some people have very strong feeling about her, but come on, HN used to be better than this. Criticize what she has done, not her appearance / age.
- contingencies 13y ago
  I'm willing to overlook people's self image related qualms with this post on account of how impressed I am by the neologism Senatrix. Hilarious! More like this :)

bsullivan01 13y ago

She's an opportunist scumbag. Usually the liberal (and libertarian) ones are against a surveillance state, but she has no core, no backbone.

bediger4000 13y ago
Or perhaps she's been compromised: Apparently, ex-California Representative Jane Harman made an appearance on a NSA wiretap (http://www.salon.com/2009/04/20/harman/ http://www.salon.com/2009/04/20/harman/). If you read that Salon article, after getting caught dealing with AIPAC, AG Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez intervened, and Rep Harman went on to "became probably the most crucial defender of the Bush warrantless eavesdropping program". To be 100% fair here, it sounds like some ethics and accountability offices did want to have Harman prosecuted, but the Bush administration intervened to get Harman off the hook. Apparently they went on to use that as leverage on Harman. So, it's been done before. The results looked like what Feinstein is doing now.
- mmagin 13y ago
  Even back as far as when she was mayor of San Francisco, it's not clear that she was particularly liberal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianne_Feinstein#Mayor_of_San_Francisco https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianne_Feinstein#Mayor_of_San_...

unoio 13y ago

Feinstein is a hypocritical old hag. On one hand she says that the American people do not need access to semi-automatic rifles because government tyranny won't happen when we have a democratically elected government. On the other hand she is one of the biggest proponents of the surveillance state. We must also not forget that she made sure she got her concealed handgun license when Harvey Milk was assassinated when it was damn near impossible to get one as a regular citizen. She supports laws that make it hard for law-abiding citizens to have access to firearms. Typical "Do as I say, not as I do" politician.

warmfuzzykitten 13y ago

I doubt she has any idea what an internet backbone is.

thrownaway2424 13y ago
Nobody does, because it's not a thing which exists.
- hnriot 13y ago
  Sure it is. Ever hear of routers and fiber cables and switches ...
weland 13y ago
She has no idea what a backbone is, of any kind.

icecreampain 13y ago

At this point, I'll believe anything about US spying, no matter how ludicrous. If someone told me that the NSA has spent billions setting up spying stations on Mars and Pluto, I'd figure that it seems like a really small amount compared to how many tax dollars they COULD have spent building bases there.

javajosh 13y ago

Don't talk to the police, because it strips away your 5th amendment protection against self-incrimination. [1] Under the NSA's universal surveillance regime, you are always talking to the police. So, not only does PRISM, etc violate the 1st and 4th amendments, but it makes the 5th amendment all but useless. I mean, I guess I'm okay with shredding the constitution if that's what the majority of american's want, but something tells me they don't want that. [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wXkI4t7nuc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wXkI4t7nuc