Overflight, 95

It’s important because people have understood that the law that this was done under which is the Patriot Act enacted in the wake of 9/11 was a law that allowed the government very broad powers to get records about people with a lower level of suspicion or probable cause to traditional standards. So it’s always been assumed that under the Patriot Act if the government had any suspicion that you were involved in a crime or terrorism, they could get a lot of information about you. What this Court Order does, that makes it so striking, is that it’s not directed at any individuals who they believe or have suspicion of committing crimes or part of a terrorist organization. It’s collecting the phone records of every single customer of Verizon business and finding out every single call that they’ve made internationally and locally, so it’s indiscriminate and it’s sweeping. It’s a government program designed to collect informations about all americans, not just people where they believe there’s reason to believe that they’ve done anything wrong.» CNN News, interviewing Glenn Grenwald
«This is CNN Breaking News. Another explosive article has just appeared, this time in the Washington Post. It’s breaking news and it reveals another broad and secret U.S. Government’s surveillance program. The Washington Post and The Guardian in London reporting that the NSA and the FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading internet companies including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, AOL, Skype, YouTube and Apple. Report says they’re extracting audio, video, photographs, e−mails, documents, and connection logs that enable analysts to track a person’s movements and contacts over time. Let’s discuss this latest revelation coming out with the former NSA official Bill Binney who had quit back in 2001, when you were angry for what was going on, and now known as a whistleblower. Now, Bill, what do you tink about this Washington Post story? Well, I assume it’s the continuation of what they’ve been doing all along. So you’re not surprised? No. you don’t have any idea who’s leaking this information? (his attorney speaks for him) I don’t know who leaked this. I have no doubt that the administration now launch an investigation, not into who approved these programs, but into who leaked the information.» CNN News, interviewing William Binney