Mass Surveillance - Tip of the Iceberg
"StingRays" and "Meta-data" collection are just one small part of a multi-faceted problem which is targeting American society today.
The "Meta Data" statement frequently made by the NSA is a total ploy; a chaff cloud, pure misinformation intentionally disseminated to deceive the masses.
Do not think think that the NSA (IRS, FBI, DHS, DEA, etc.) with all of their capabilities and with no oversight haven't deployed other illegal tools from their arsenal - which include but are not limited to the GPS tagging of vehicles belonging to Americans who have never committed a crime, deployment of StingRays, and intensive cyber-intrusions.
NSA has been doing a "Full Take" (everything and anything - phone calls, sms, emails, contact harvesting, VOIP monitoring, browsing, history, skype, etc.) on all US citizens for more than a decade - and now all of the other three letter agencies are involved.
The "Meta Data" collection statement is a "sleight-of-hand," which is meant to divert everyone's attention from the fact that (1) The NSA is doing a full take, and (2) in many cases is using the illegally intercepted communications in an aggressive fashion against American citizens who are not involved in any nefarious or illegal activities.
These agencies turn over all of the intercepted communications (no warrants of course) and PII (Personal Identifying Information) to local and state law enforcement through the Regional Data Fusion Centers.
Most state law enforcement agencies, and most local level law enforcement agencies in major cities have their own StingRay/DirtBox/TriggerFish (cell-site simulators).
So even if a judge issues a cease and desist order to the NSA, or the House Oversight Committee demands answers from federal law enforcement agencies, there are hundreds, if not thousands of cell-tower spoofing-units deployed on the street with local/state agencies in every major US city.
Federalization has already occurred on many levels.
If you are labeled as a potential "Domestic Threat" (conservative, military veteran, Tea Party supporter, LGBT community member, investigative journalist, activist, politically outspoken academic, gun owner, property owner in a foreign country), private security companies (usually run by ex-federal law enforcement members - DEA, FBI, DHS, DoD) are paid to illegally monitor your movements on US soil - as part of a classified DOMINT (Domestic Intelligence) Program, which equates to COINTELPRO on steroids.
So instead of the NSA and other federal agencies using their ELINT capacities and cell-site simulators to fight the bad guys in other countries, they are more focused on harassing innocent Americans with technologies like StingRay - and other military-grade hardware which the general public does not know even exists.
Snowden revealed only the tip of a very evil and dark clandestine iceberg which is rapidly bearing down on American society, robbing all of liberty who are unwittingly standing in its path.
Addressing the unconstitutional use of cell-site simulators will not even begin to resolve the issues that Americans are facing from illegal surveillance, harassment, and the sharing of all of their personal identifying information (supposedly covered by the Privacy Act), and ALL electronic communications (not just "meta-data").
Some elements within the DoJ (especially FBI and DHS) are using the "5 D" domestic counter-intelligence tenets against Americans who are considered "threats" without ever having a day in court: Deny, Disrupt, Deceive, Degrade, and Destroy.
These same DoJ elements, and the private contractors who work alongside of them on US soil against innocent Americans, are engaged in a hyper-aggressive and illegal COINTELPRO (Counter-intelligence Program) instead of focusing on very real external threats.
A cheap, home-made cell-site simulator can be made for less than $2000 and powerful (suitcase module) units built for law enforcement can be purchased for less than $100,000 (since the manufacturers know that the units are purchased with federal funds, they have kept the prices jacked up intentionally).
But hey, as long as slush funds for domestic black ops are funneled to cronies and private security contractors, who cares if US security falls by the wayside as the taxpayers' dime is spent on technology which is inevitably used against the American people.
After all, it ain't about "security," it is about money and the control of US citizens, not the targeting of real and potential foreign threats.
Everything the Church Committee addressed has been reborn - and it is more sadistic, vicious, and intrusive than ever before, especially given the degree of technological advancement which has occurred in the four+ decades subsequent to the committees formation.
Hopefully someone within today's political machine will consider addressing the extent to which these illegal domestic intelligence operations have targeted and victimized millions of innocent Americans.
Look Up: Zersetzung, Triggerfish, DirtBox, IMSI-catcher, FinFisher, EPIC, Treasure Map, Pre-crime program (per a 2011 DHS document), JTRIG.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
