So, I’ve got spies on the mind. Firstly, it’s because I just
got through Covert Affairs. It’s about a newbie CIA officer played by Piper
Perabo. I got into it mainly because I was charmed by her guest starring on Go On (a tragically cancelled sitcom) and because it’s on USA ,
and I’ll watch just about anything from them (seriously. Covert Affairs is the
5th show from them I watch regularly. It’s a good thing it’s cable,
because trying to keep up with 24 episodes for all those shows would take up waaaaay too much of my time).
Secondly, it’s because Burn Notice (another USA
show) is back on the air. Burn Notice is about an ex-spy, and takes great
pleasure in pointing out how spies actually do things, as opposed to how
they’re portrayed to do things in movies (Covert Affairs tends to go the movie
way, not the realistic way).
Thirdly, it’s because I finally caught up with the Edward Snowden story this morning. Or at least, what I think is the Edward Snowden
story. From what I can tell, Snowden used to work at the CIA and then leaked information to some newspapers last
week that the CIA has been monitoring the internet and cell phone calls. Now
he’s in Hong Kong .
Firstly, about the phone call monitoring – HOW IS THIS
NEWS?!? I mean, not to go all conspiracy theorist on you, but the NSA has been
doing this for years. They monitor calls, and certain key words trigger closer
scrutiny. Any useful information would be shared with the FBI (for domestic
matters) and the CIA (for international matters), and if they’re feeling really
nice, they might even share it with other countries (for a quid pro quo, of
course, because that’s how the intelligence community works).
About Snowden himself? Guy’s a douche. He promised not to
reveal secrets, and then he did. He gave his word and then broke it. I don’t
mind that he had a moral dilemma about it. That’s fine. That’s what your
conscience is for. But you can’t share information you got there. That’s
against the law, and depending on the nature of the information revealed,
possibly treason.
On the other hand, I have no problem with the newspapers
printing what he told them. They got the information fair and square, and broke
no laws getting it. They’re not beholden to the government, so there’s nothing
preventing them from revealing any secrets at all. It’s kind of their job.
Now, Snowden is in Hong Kong . After
his identity was revealed (he actually outed himself), he checked out of his
hotel, not to be seen since. He told the newspapers he was leaking information
because he was worried about the rights of American citizens. Then he WENT TO CHINA Tiananmen
Square , nothing happened”) and their unwavering devotion to
justice and law (*cough* copyrights *cough*). And of course, they would have
absolutely no interest in the American Intelligence community. None at all.
If you’ll allow me one more bit of tin-foil-hatness, Snowden
is either being made very rich, or very hurt.
The problem with the info revealed by Snowden is that it indicates that the NSA is wiretapping American citizens without a warrant, which violates their 4th Amendment rights against unlawful search and seizure. For the same reason as you can refuse a police officer's request to open your trunk if he has no reasonable suspicion you've committed a crime, most Americans have an expectation that their phone calls will only be monitored by court order (i.e. someone has to show reasonable suspicion that they've done something illegal). The NSA has always listened in on as many foreigners phone calls as it could, because non-Americans aren't protected by the US Constitution, but if Snowden is right, then they've expanded their purview illegally.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Covert Affairs is awesome!
It's newsworthy that NSA confirmed that they demanded and analyzed information from Verizon about every phone call made in America. It's interesting that they even have a James Bond movie-sounding name for the activity (Prism). Soon after it there was speculation the NSA has backdoor access to Google Search and Bing, enabling them to watch searches in real-time although this hasn't been confirmed by NSA. The whole thing reminds me of "Enemy of the State" (Will Smith, Gene Hackman) and "Live Free or Die Hard" (Bruce Willis, Tim Olyphant, The "I'm A Mac" Guy).
ReplyDeleteI guess it's not noteworthy to me because I thought that's what the NSA was already doing. And while it does violate the rights of citizens, it might not be illegal if the president signed the order and told the right members of congress. Things always get a little weird when politicians get involved.
ReplyDelete