http://www.washingtonpost.com/...f-49ddc7417125_story.html

"But the more serious lapses include unauthorized access to intercepted communications, the distribution of protected content and the use of automated systems without built-in safeguards to prevent unlawful surveillance.

The May 2012 audit, intended for the agency’s top leaders, counts only incidents at the NSA’s Fort Meade headquarters and other ­facilities in the Washington area. Three government officials, speak­ing on the condition of anonymity to discuss classified matters, said the number would be substantially higher if it included other NSA operating units and regional collection centers.

...

Despite the quadrupling of the NSA’s oversight staff after a series of significant violations in 2009, the rate of infractions increased throughout 2011 and early 2012. An NSA spokesman declined to disclose whether the trend has continued since last year."

"In October 2011, months after the program got underway, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court ruled that the collection effort was unconstitutional. The court said that the methods used were “deficient on statutory and constitutional grounds,” according to a top-secret summary of the opinion, and it ordered the NSA to comply with standard privacy protections or stop the program.

James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, has acknowledged that the court found the NSA in breach of the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, but the Obama administration has fought a Freedom of Information lawsuit that seeks the opinion."

One of the things I thought was interesting is that the enforcement has focused on "what gets swept up"... several times in the article/quotes they imply that once something is obtained and put into their databases, whether rightly or wrongly, the ability to search those databases is pretty much unchecked.

Its kinda like there is an assumption that anything in the databases has already been deemed "free and clear" and then anyone can do whatever they want with it... Sigh...

They are collecting metadata but defend that they are not violating the 4th amendment because they are not actively searching it. Of course, they have the metadata if/when they decide to start using it.

Ahem:

http://tinyurl.com/lnchsle

Feeling safe yet?

The NSA is acting in an unlawful manner, but that's not surprising considering the unlawful conduct of the administration.

Obama needs to be impeached, Hillary needs to be incarcerated, Holder needs to be incarcerated.

The destruction of Civil Liberties in the U.S. is escalating at a rapid pace. If the US population does not rise up and end it, the United States will become the largest and most powerful police state in the world.

Cerb, perhaps you should consider spiking your kool-aid. You watch way too much faux news.

I'm for throwing all politicans in jail and start over.

Rise up america, its time to over throw your fascist government and end the police state.

OH FFS, what do you think the NSA is going to do? Sit around and twiddle their thumbs? As if its any different in the UK, or any other industrialized state.

If an intelligence agency has the technology to passively collect large volumes of data, they are going to collect it. Its their nature.

Our obligation as citizens is to overwhelm their servers with so much midget porn that they will never be able to sort out the actual data.

I am doing my part.

Are you?