The “Domestic Warrantless Spying Program” will henceforth be referred to as the “Terrorist Surveillance Program” and only the “Terrorist Surveillance Program“. Carry on.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
I thnk maybe I’m one of them terrists …. my neighbor tells me there was a “telephone worker” adjusting the phone box outside my place the other day. I have had no problems, nor asked for any repairs.
What I really hope is that I am a moronic paranoid nutsack
Nobody said you were moronic.
;p
It turns out the administration keeps a couple of hamsters in a shoebox in Cheney’s office, since he’s not using it.
When they need permission to break the law, Gonzales asks them.
So far so good.
by phone box outside, i mean the phone box that is attached to the wall directly beside my kitchen window … not the one on a telephone pole in the alley
turn off the computer and go get one right now. Also if you do not have one, get an answering machine for your landline.
Do not make outgoing calls on your landline, At all.
Do not answer your landline, let me machine get it, and return the call on your cell phone if it is someone with whom you wish to speak.
won’t she have to be on the look-out for a van parked down the street? Seriously. Isn’t there a way to eavesdrop on cell phones if you have the necessary equipment within X number of yards?
which they will not, if she follows the instructions in the comment by me in this thread with the topic PLEASE people DO NOT USE LAND LINES.
The damndest thing is that, if my paranoid suspicions turn out to be true, is that I don’t know a damn thing that is worth anything to Torturer Armando Gonzales, Sick Dick, or the rest of ’em.
torture, of kidnapping, of rendering, is not to “get intelligence.”
It is to send a message to those who stand outside the “facility,” waiting for their, or their child’s name to be called.
You may not have “information,” but you have publicly stated opposition to US policies, and incited others to do so. You, as well as BooMan, would both make good “examples.”
I am very seriously afraid for you, susan, and I strongly urge you not to call the phone company, but obtain a pre-paid cell phone using the method I put in the other comment, and quietly cancel your land line.
In this particular time and place, yes, you do have to live like a refugee.
Thank you so much, Ducky. God I wish I had the energy and wherewithal to handle this … it’s just about the last thing I want to add to my list right now because everything is sort of hitting me emotionally right now (my mom’s death, etc., etc.)
I’ll see about getting a cell phone …
but what about my DSL line?
Why do you think cell phones are safe?
there’s good news and bad news. The good news is, they don’t have to come to your house to tap your phone – just throw a switch. The bad news is, they don’t have to come to your…
call the phone company.
I’ll call this afternoon, and will report back.
I really hate being paranoid … most of the time it’s just paranoia, and nothing real … I’ve had lots of friends who were SURE they had an FBI file, sent away for it, and found out they had none … but with these monsters in office, god only knows what they’re up to.
I’m sure that they’re only tracking “homicide bombers.” After all, everything operating just as it should is a sufficient explanation for why they bypassed the FISA court and nobody seems to actually approve of what they’re doing.
I feel so much safer.
‘specially seeing the faces of Tom Delay, Jack, and Rick starin’ at me as I type this.
Geeze Louise! Susan, are you sure!!!;o) I had one at my place the other day as well! Maybe we ought to take heed and pack our bags…:o) Have you said to anyone who you want to leave your belongings too? I think now is the time for me to do it…now that you bring this all up…bs Hugs..Ladybug.. boy howdy we are in a real mess nowadays, arent we..;o( I want to work hard for the 06 elections and at least get the house back for the democrats..Then maybe we have a little chance in taking back our country. Seriously and lying all joking aside, this is so serious that we much really take this so very seriously…otherwise we are in realtime trouble.
I don’t know. I thought and thought and couldn’t imagine who I’d call! Or who would know?!
Call the phone company? Who at the phone company?
I hope you noticed that I was more specific above … it was the phone box that is attached to the same wall outside where I sit here all day at my computer (on the kitchen table). Not some phone box on a junction box down the alley. The one on my own — very own — wall.
Also: A light came on in the crawl space underneath where the phone box is. Now, my daughter’s boss came over and crawled on his stomach, and found that there is a light bulb with a string attached — it’s VERY possible — in fact most likely — that the naughty raccoons, who know how to crawl down there, pulled on the string. My friend loosened the bulb so it won’t go on now if one of those stinkers pulls the string. And I’m sticking with the raccoon version of this story … although BOTH incidents occurred at the same time last week.
For two reasons. One, under the Patriot Act, individuals whose homes are searched without a warrant are prohibited from mentioning the search, should they come to know of it, This provision could easily be interpreted to apply also to telephone surveillance under the Terrorist Surveillance Program.
Two, it is unlikely that any phone company employee is authorized to discuss measures taken by Homeland Security or any similar security agency, however, they would be authorized to report customer contact regarding these measures, thus making you more vulnerable to further action as outlined in reason one.
Just get a cell phone.
I tend to agree with you, Ducky. … I don’t think they’d be helpful or they’d have some readymade cover story.
I wish you’d do a series of diaries for us ignoramuses on how we can protect ourselves.
Damnit Janet’s story is truly frightening.
I don’t know Janet in real life, but in all of my wonderful e-mail exchanges with her and seeing her writings here, she’s less harmful to Dick Cheney than a flea.
I think this country is really, really going down the tubes. Wasting time on people like Janet and, maybe, me. All I do is BITCH about the bastards all day long, every day. (Suppose that’ll be illegal soon enough … like in WWI … and, damnitall, I wish I could find a book I have of 20th century prison writings in which the story of a pacfist coman during WWI was told … she was imprisoned for years just for speaking up against the war, and she went through unrelenting hell.)
It just occurred to me that mentioning I’d read this man’s book would probably put me on a list somewhere …. here’s the name, etc.:
Prison Writings in 20th-Century America
by H. Bruce Franklin — who I knew at Stanford many, many decades ago. He was a tenured professor of English — an expert on Melville, Hawthorne, and also science fiction writings. He led some very, very extremely radical groups. I just knew him very briefly, and never took a class from him. It shocked me, years ago, when I sent him an e-mail and he remembered me well, and invited me to see him and his wife Jane (an expert on Cuba) in Seattle. I declined … even after all this time, and even though he’s an old man now, I’m wary of being seen around such people. He lost his tenure at Stanford, the first time that’s ever happened to a professor. But, he went on to teach at Yale and now he’s a tenured professor at Rutgers. He told him in his e-mail about all of his children who’ve gone on to wonderful careers, one as a forensic pathologist (!). (I’d been to his home and met his kids when they were just little tykes.)
in light of recent (and upcoming) developments, updated with more phone info and a couple of other “live like a refugee” tips.
Washington tends toward extreme overcaution, and as events unfold, I believe that they will anticipate the possibility of soft support for Operation Iranian Freedom, and act accordingly.
Is this program a part of the War on Ter…err, the Global Struggle Against Extremism?
Al Franken has Michael Isikoff on this hour to talk about … guess what … why the U.S. is spying on Quakers.
Well you know about that long established link between Quakers and violent terrorism, don’t you?
will do, if you tell me how many terrorists you surveilled as opposed to how many mere “domestics”
And President Bush will henceforth be called His Most Royal Majesty; King, Emporer and Ruler of the Milky Way Galaxy, the embodiment of God on earth. Got that?
Which of his stand-ins will be “elected” in 2008?
Let’s start guessing now … we could even wager on it, and somebody could win a big prize.
I mean, do you honestly think that we’ll elect who we vote for anymore?
One day a fourth-grade teacher asked the children what their fathers did for a living. All the typical answers came up — fireman, mechanic, businessman, salesman, doctor, lawyer, and so forth.
But little Justin was being uncharacteristically quiet. When the teacher prodded him about his father, he replied, “My father’s an exotic dancer in a gay cabaret and takes off all his clothes in front of other men and they put money in his underwear. Sometimes, if the offer is really good, he will go home with some guy and make love with him for money.”
The teacher, obviously shaken by this statement, hurriedly set the other children to work on some exercises and then took little Justin aside to ask him, “Is that really true about your father?”
“No,” the boy said sheepishly, “He works for the Republican National Committee and helped re-elect George Bush, but I was too embarrassed to say that in front of the other kids.”
Oh that is just too fricking funny my friend! It wouldn’t surprise me if it were true though..teehee!
Well, our side all voted against Alito today! Bravo, not that it does any good but it does send a message that they are united. Filibuster?
I see no reason not to. I’m fairly confident that they will fail to get a filibuster together, however. I’m calling Salazar again today.
As far as I have heard, good ol ben Nelson is the only Dem so far that says he will vote Yes to Alito. Asshole. Are there any repugs on the fence that we know of?
Mr. Man, sir….
My neighbor’s cat, which, being a persian, is obviously a terrorist symp, buried my decoder ring – the one in the specially marked box of crackerjacks – and it can’t be found. The cat has been “interrogated” in accordance with Gitmo/Ghraib orders, of course, and was then disappeared, but it remains that I am unable to decode the above. Could you please have one of the underground agents deliver a translated version to the secret safe coffee can buried under the third tree from the left corner of Abramoff’s house?
Thank you.
SusanHu,
Call the phone company!!!
This is what happened to me and a freind last.. terrible with dates but around Novemeber. While talking on the phone we’d always get lots of static and echoeing. One day we heard mumbling… we were all “what the fuck?” and I KID YOU NOT!!! a loud male voice came on the line and said, “DISREGARD. DISREGARD. PacBell technician testing the line”.
PacBell? “Disregard”?? freaked us out!
Then my natural gas dude shows up unexpectedly a few weeks later and shows me a new product that when attached to my inside phone line will help tell the gas comapny when to come and fill my tank. It wasn’t hooked to the tank outside at all. I never put it on. They called me three times and finally demanded I put it on. I refused.
Fuck Bush and his Gestapo Pigs!
Do not even have them in your home at all. If you have one, cancel it.
Go to a neighborhood frequented by people from other places. There you will find stores that will provide you with a pre-paid cell phone without requiring any ID, you can pay for it, and subsequent “minutes cards” with cash, and if they ask for a name, give them any name you wish, the name you always wished was yours, the name of a soap opera character, nobody cares. Give the number to your family and friends.
Do NOT HAVE the land lines in your home!*
It looks like it is time for all who have not read the Anti-Terrorism Safety Checklist to do so, and those who have read it and thought it was “over the top” or “does not apply” to you, to take another look at it. Especially if you have dependents, human or fur.
There is one exception to this, and that is if the land line where you live is registered to a person who either does not exist, or has not lived in the physical residence where the land line resides for several years, and if you pay the bills by money order, purchased with cash, in a name that is not real.
Not all can have cell phones. In Northern Calif so much of it is dead zone. We could not have one due to all the mountains and what not. Finally we moved and have two.
Also here in American, we pay for calls going OUT and calls coming IN. So alot of folks can’t afford cell phones. Mine’s costing a fortune already and I’m wondering WTF to do now.
I use my “land line” for local, school calls. If I want to “talk” to a friend of fellow blogger, I use my cell.
Hell the call to Indy was so horrid, echoey and staticky I had no other choice but call her on my cell.
(((Thanks for the links Ductapefatwa)))
I’m not sure that is good advice. We’ve considered it before, and always decide that in the case of an emergency, we want a land line. Cell phones can run out of juice, be misplaced, and go on the fritz. I’ve had my fair share of family emergencies and I’m really glad I have a home phone.
there have been some very significant changes regarding which kinds of emergencies are more likely.
You make sure it does not run out of juice by charging it when it beeps, keep it clipped to your belt or other clothing so it is not misplaced, and if it is, just borrow somebody else’s cell phone and call your number, you will then hear it ring. I have never had one go on the fritz, if it does, it is easier and quicker, not to mention cheaper, to go back to the little store and buy a new one than it is to get a land line cable fixed that has fritzed.
It seems like any inconsistency from public record would draw more interest as to why someone would attempt to obscure their identity. What do they have to hide?
Sure if they really really wanted to hunt someone down, they could get the records of enough cell phone companies to determine that the person did not have one of those accounts.
However pre paid cellphones are used by so many millions of people, for so many different reasons, that it is not going to send up any red flags, and a prepaid cell phone is not going to save you from actual seizure, obviously, if they are bumbling around the line into her house they know where she lives.
What a pre paid cell phone will do is give you a much better chance of having private telephone conversations.
Think of it like non-monogamous sex. Nothing is 100%, but there are things you can do to make it safer.
I’m not an advocate for land lines so there’s no argument there. I disagree with your opinion of prepaid cell phones and cards. They actually draw more suspicion anf closer scrutiny. The BushCo says that’s how the bad guys try to avoid wiretaps. Besides that, the prepaid cards are purposely routed through international switches partially for easier FISA compliance and broad monitoring.
The issue that started most of this is still crucial. Roving wiretaps are what has been desired so the surveillance can follow a user over different numbers and locations. This has been done for a long while now by digital identification of unique voice print. Systems are set up to scan for the voice prints and activate taps when the voice is active on any phone, anywhere.
Purposely switching to a prepaid at a curious time would imply guilt and it’s worse when no guilt is present.
switch to prepaid. You go to the place that sells them to people without papers and you pay for it in cash, and you don’t give your real name and even though some are routed through different lines, as you say, the chances that your conversations will be listened to are still reduced. And don’t go get it in a South Asian or Arab neighborhood, get it in a Latin American one, sheer numbers will reduce your chances of being listened to even more.
Now I do think you have a point about the curious time, so instead of cancelling her land line tomorrow, it might be better if she just leaves it where it is, not use it, connect it to an answering machine, and return the calls on her cell phone.
The point is the govt looks at the prepaid phones and cards closer than any registered phone service. It’s safe to say that most everyone’s voice print is on file somewhere. If someone feels their calls are monitored, which they probably are, then that print will likely go on an (if the routine changes) alert status as all calls are scanned. It’s also safe to say that all calls are scanned. It’s not a matter of digging through the information. PROMIS was a frontrunner in this datamining retrieval technology.
It’s all about profiling, even innocent people. If this was all done in a reasonable, transparent manner, by reasonable people for a reasonable credible threat, it wouldn’t be so bad….but it’s not.
reasonableness, and I don’t say that anything is 100%.
But the numbers involved reduce any one person’s chances, whether voiceprinted or not.
And if they do pick up your voiceprint, or you think they have or might, change phones. Even the warlords complain that they are unable to “catch” people who oppose US policies because they use disposable phones and change them frequently.
And it is easier and requires less manpower, and less computer resources, to match name to name than 11 squillion voices to one voiceprint.
Have you been listening to the warlord’s claims? They can’t get a warrant because they don’t have a name. They don’t have probable cause but they have ‘substantial belief’ that ‘persons’ might present a potential threat. They use technology, not names to track these persons.
I’m not going to argue with you. Anonymity has it’s merits but it’s also relatively nonexistent.
“Anonymity has it’s merits but it’s also relatively nonexistent.
“
I can’t argue with that. And if they are outside her kitchen window, it’s safe to assume they already have a name. 🙂
I’m posting a related link at the end of the comments.
Oh man, you guys are really scaring me. I’m too Luddite to get a cell phone. The land line is only used for recorded salesmen to call me on. Plus I phone my 84-yr. old Mom daily, and that call would have anyone swearing off the spy game forever.
But of course they would be going after women (the easy target), and Susan is one of those rabble rousers. Maybe they’ve managed to turn the racoons. Susan do what Ductape says -it’s a sign that you need to start being more careful.
Someday you’ll be telling the grandkids about how you were dragged into the 21st century and got your first cell phone, and they’ll laugh.
Just keep telling yourself “george doesn’t know Jack.”
It is no different from using a land line. You don’t have to get one that has fancy stuff, and if the cheapest one comes with what you and I might call “fancy stuff,” you don’t have to use it.
In fact, as it says in the Anti-Terrorism Safety Checklist you should NOT use the “memory” function, even if you understand it and know how to use it. You do not want contact info of loved ones available to anyone who should get hold of your cell phone, even if it is a case of you just dropping it and some mischievous kid with no warlord affiliation picking it up and making prank calls.
The biggest challenge is that the buttons are small, but since you are a lady, and ladies tend to have smaller fingers, that will not be a problem for you.
The only trouble I have is seeing the buttons, but since I also have trouble seeing the phone itself, and the computer monitor, for that matter, that is to be expected. 🙂
Do you have any opinion on pumping radio waves into your brain? I always think of Lee Atwater and his cell phone addiction. My brain is in a fragile state and I don’t want to put it at risk.
associated with that, teenagers would be most at risk, as they spend 23 out of 24 hours with the thing next to their ears.
It does not seem likely that adults, especially adults who do not talk on the phone a lot, would have to worry about it.
Voice recognition technology has been around for a while and has many uses.