It’s not paranoia if they are really after you

The Attorney General, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and the Director of NCTC back in March updated the 2008 rules for what to do with information gathered in US spying.

The information gathering community doesn’t call what they do “spying,” of course. That would be bad PR.

The American Civil Liberties Union sees the changes as a threat to what you and I might call “freedom.”

“The biggest change regards the NCTC’s handling of ‘non-terrorism’ related information on US persons. Previously, the intelligence community was barred from collecting information about ordinary Americans unless the person was a terror suspect or part of an actual investigation. When the NCTC gobbled up huge data sets it had to search for and identify any innocent US person information inadvertently collected, and discard it within 180 days. This crucial check meant that NCTC was dissuaded from collecting large databases filled with information on innocent Americans, because the data had to then be carefully screened. The 2012 guidelines eliminate this check, allowing NCTC to collect and ‘continually assess’ information on innocent Americans for up to five years.”

http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security-technology-and-liberty/biggest-new-spying-program-youve-probably-never-heard

“All of this is happening with very little oversight. Controls over the NCTC are mostly internal to the DNI’s office, and important oversight bodies such as Congress and the President’s Intelligence Oversight Board aren’t notified even of ‘significant’ failures to comply with the Guidelines.”

(That’s the guards guarding the guards.)

I can’t stop US intel agencies from gathering information about me. You can’t stop the agencies from finding out whatever they want to know about you. By reading this blog, you have given access to information. By writing this blog … What the heck, US intel agencies. Do whatever you want; I have nothing to hide. (I just gave the finger to the taped-over camera lens on the laptop screen. In the last week, the thing twice flashed blue.)