Government Surveillance Ratchets Up

The Obama administration, resolving years of internal debate, is on the verge of backing a Federal Bureau of Investigation plan for a sweeping overhaul of surveillance laws that would make it easier to wiretap people who communicate using the Internet rather than by traditional phone services, according to officials familiar with the deliberations. (more)

Meanwhile...

Is the government recording and listening to your every phone call and probing every email for dangerous ideas? 

Probably—if certain insiders are to be believed. According to one former FBI agent, the US government may indeed keep a massive database where all domestic communications are recorded and stored....

From CNN interview transcripts:
 
(Ex-FBI) CLEMENTE: …We certainly have ways in national security investigations to find out exactly what was said in that conversation. 

(CNN) BURNETT: So they can actually get that? We can know what people are saying, that is incredible. 

(Ex-FBI) CLEMENTE: …Welcome to America. All of that stuff is being captured as we speak whether we know it or like it or not. (more)
And, where would you store all that chit-chat?

"The Utah Data Center, code-named Bumblehive, is the first Intelligence Community Comprehensive National Cyber-security Initiative (IC CNCI) data center designed to support the Intelligence Community's efforts to monitor, strengthen and protect the nation... NSA is the executive agent for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and will be the lead agency at the center." (more)

The heavily fortified $2 billion center should be up and running in September 2013. Flowing through its servers and routers and stored in near-bottomless databases will be all forms of communication, including the complete contents of private emails, cell phone calls, and Google searches, as well as all sorts of personal data trails—parking receipts, travel itineraries, bookstore purchases, and other digital “pocket litter.” (more)