So cruising around the leftard blogosphere, I came across a post on the NSA wiretapping situation. The story stars a true patriot, Mark Klein, who wants the world to know that big brother is watching YOU, he's just doing his patriotic duty.
"His first inkling that something was amiss came in summer 2002 when he opened the door to admit a visitor from the National Security Agency to an office of AT&T in San Francisco. "What the heck is the NSA doing here?" Mark Klein, a former AT&T technician, said he asked himself. A year or so later, he stumbled upon documents that, he said, nearly caused him to fall out of his chair. The documents, he said, show that the NSA gained access to massive amounts of e-mail and search and other Internet records of more than a dozen global and regional telecommunications providers."
Wow, he not only "opened the door" and had the NSA all up in his face, but he also happened to stumble upon, if true, what would be considered sensitive material, I'm sure. Incredible.
"In an interview yesterday, he alleged that the NSA set up a system that vacuumed up Internet and phone-call data from ordinary Americans with the cooperation of AT&T . Contrary to the government's depiction of its surveillance program as aimed at overseas terrorists, Klein said, much of the data sent through AT&T to the NSA was purely domestic. Klein said he believes that the NSA was analyzing the records for usage patterns as well as for content...."
That's a pretty hefty accusation. He alleges a lot of things, including "secret rooms" being built in SBC buildings and even the mysterious firing of the "guy who set up the secret room".
Mark had this to say: "This is the infrastructure for an Orwellian police state. It must be shut down!" Yes, shut it down!!! Down down dooby dooby down!
I might add,"Klein was last in Washington in 1969, to take part in an antiwar protest."
Now, it's possible this guy is making all this up because he's anti-Bush/anti-war/Moonbattage Extraordinaire....or he could be straight up telling the truth.
Therein lies the problem.
The NSA is watching us all, I know that, you, my readers should know that. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together should know that. The problem is....is that a bad thing?
Look, the last thing I want is Big Brother...but then you are confronted with this kind of thing: "In a special Internet announcement in Arabic, picked up DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources, Osama bin Laden’s followers announced Monday, Oct. 29, the launching of Electronic Jihad. On Sunday, Nov. 11, al Qaeda’s electronic experts will start attacking Western, Jewish, Israeli, Muslim apostate and Shiite Web sites."
Or this:"In an article in the Saudi daily Al-Riyadh, columnist Fares bin Hazam reports that both preachers in mosques and online propaganda are inciting young Muslims to wage jihad."
Even this: "A 21-year-old US citizen who just happened to be born in Saudi Arabia hosts a virulently anti-American website that glorifies jihad against Americans and non-Muslims in general."
"The practice of Islamic extremist groups to turn the openness and instantaneous nature of communications on the Internet to their advantage is shown by the number, variety and depth of the sites dedicated to assisting these groups in their cause. While some of the websites have folded or been taken down, new ones, such as stopamerica.org (whose administrator has been indicted as a possible Al-Qaeda agent) have blossomed, carrying similar messages of hate and destruction. The existing sites maintained by Islamic extremists have continued to act as central nodes of disseminating propaganda, messaging among members and fundraising."
So should we not be monitoring the internet? Or should we?
"There are eight different ways in which contemporary terrorists use the Internet, ranging from psychological warfare and propaganda to highly instrumental uses such as fundraising, recruitment, data mining, and coordination of actions." Read more here....
