[aklug] Re: Article: Bamford, They Know Much More Than You Think

* Arthur Corliss <acorliss@nevaeh-linux.org> [130726 09:14]:
> On Fri, 26 Jul 2013, Greg Schmitz wrote:
>
> >FYR
> >
> >"They Know Much More Than You Think"
> >August 15, 2013
> >James Bamford
> >
> >"Looking back, the NSA and its predecessors have been gaining secret,
> >illegal access to the communications of Americans for nearly a century. On
> >July 1, 1920, a slim balding man in his early thirties moved into a
> >four-story townhouse at 141 East 37th Street in Manhattan. This was the
> >birth of the Black Chamber, the NSA?s earliest predecessor, and it would
> >be hidden in the nondescript brownstone. But its chief, Herbert O.
> >Yardley, had a problem. To gather intelligence for Woodrow Wilson?s
> >government, he needed access to the telegrams entering, leaving, and
> >passing through the country, but because of an early version of the Radio
> >Communications Act, such access was illegal. With the shake of a hand,
> >however, Yardley convinced Newcomb Carlton, the president of Western
> >Union, to grant the Black Chamber secret access on a daily basis to the
> >private messages passing over his wires?the Internet of the day."
>
> Damn. Now I'll have to stop using telegrams... If they go after pigeons
> we're all screwed! ;-)
>
> Not to make light of a government that's seriously out of control. We've
> lost sight of Barnhill's truism: Where the people fear the government you
> have tyranny. Where the government fears the people you have liberty.
>
> Somehow, we've let them turn the tables on us.
  Say what? You just now noticed?
  
  When I was in college in 1967 Dormitory Resident Assistants were
  instructed to provide the names and phone numbers of those with
  long hair or some other kind of (possibly) hippy association.
  Frequently, hose phones were then tapped.

  Frequently, you could hear tapping sounds on the line when
  speaking on the phone. We used to say insulting things about the
  listeners while talking...

  Maybe that's why my hair fell out so early. Something slipped into
  my water at the dorm..

-- 
Tim 
tim at tee jay forty nine dot com or akwebsoft dot com
http://www.akwebsoft.com
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