The UK GUARDIAN reported some earth-shattering news over the past 24 hours, developing throughout the last 8 hours within the late night hours in the United States..
According to the paper, the US government went to a FISA court, and consequently, Verizon has been ordered to provide call records of millions of Americans on a daily basis to the National Security Agency.
According to the report, the content of the phone call is not being reported..
The consequences of the news breaking has now reinforced the long-held notion that the Obama Administration has been more forceful when it comes to secret eavesdropping programs within national security circles in the United States government.
This news has been coupled, of course, when recent developments like the IRS potentially targeting groups, and the Justice Department seizing AP phone records and one Fox News reporter, including his parents..
The GUARDIAN reported in its exclusive story that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court granted the order to the FBI on April 25–and the order expires July 19.
While the order appears to be legal under the controversial Patriot Act, it reignites a debate over whether it should be legal at all. Additionally, the fact that the Verizon documents leaked does not necessarily mean that it is only that company. As a matter of fact, the chatter of the talking heads in political circles this morning is vocalizing their questions as to whether other services, like AT&T, that we simply are not yet aware of..
Both Verizon and the White House have not commented, but neither has denied the GUARDIAN story.
This morning on MSNBC’s MORNING JOE, Chuck Todd reported that he, and other NBC reporters, tried ‘all night’ to get some type of a response from someone in the White House to no avail, but again noted that there were no denials from any officials.
While most of America has grown accustomed to the understanding that little of its communication is ‘private,’ including phone calls and emails, the vast amount of data being collected is enough to raise eyebrows.
Candidate Obama campaigned against this type of government surveillance. But President Obama seems to have a very different feeling about how far is too far..
Washington D.C. is set to now react to this story–as is the rest of the United States, as it wakes up to morning news that all calls have been subject to this FISA order.
While people may assume that Rand Paul may speak out against it, he may already have a friend in the other party: This CNN report quoted Al Gore, who said on Twitter: “In the digital era, privacy must be a priority. Is it just me, or is secret blanket surveillance obscenely outrageous?”
