Big Brother is Listening To Phone Calls And Reading Text Messages

Big Brother is Listening To Phone Calls And Reading Text Messages

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

On November 9^th, 2011 Americans will get an up close and personal demonstration of the new powers the US government has given itself over America’s broadcast services.

There will be a complete take over of the nation’s air waves, both television and radio – plus -- cable television systems, wireless cable systems, satellite digital audio radio service (SDARS) providers, and direct broadcast satellite (DBS) providers.  The power to do this is now in the hands of the President.  Only he has the authority to do this. (SOURCE)

On November 9^th there will be a test of how effectively the system will work whenever the President decides he must speak to the American people reference an emergency that threatens the nation.

Who exactly, decides when there is a national emergency?  I would expect it to be the President himself.

I am a 30-year veteran of the broadcast business (retired) and this sends chills up and down my spine.  I have visions of Big Brother taking control of the nation’s broadcast systems any time the President feels the need.

But that is not the worst of my concerns. 

There is no such thing as “privacy” in America any longer.  The moment I press “send” on my e-mail, the government scans it.  Every time I make a phone call, whether on my land line, or my cell phone, the government monitors it.  If I send a fax on an instant message, the government scans the wording of the fax.  If and when I send a text message, the government reads it, too.  UNBELIEVABLE, right?  Believe it.

This is a combined project referred to as “Echelon” (or The Echelon Network – sometimes called “The Five Eyes.”) involving the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, with listening posts that span the globe.  Every phone call, e-mail, text message, wire, fax, instant message, computer, and even satellite phone calls is/are intercepted 24-hours a day, seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year.   Listening posts are located in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Cyprus, Hungary, Pakistan, India, Oman, Kenya, and, yes, in Israel.   And – there may well be others, and there probably are.

Ollie North has said the only kind of message communication not intercepted by the government is – smoke signals!  (Page 400 of “The Jericho Sanctions” by Ollie North.)

When you consider all this, then the TV show “Person of Interest” is not so far fetched – now, is it?

“The system has been reported in a number of public sources. Its capabilities and political implications were investigated by a committee of the European Parliament during 2000 and 2001 with a report published in 2001, and by author James Bamford in his books on the National Security Agency of the United States.

Intelligence monitoring of people in the area covered by the AUSCANZUKUS security agreement has caused concern. Some critics claim the system is being used not only to search for terrorist plots, drug dealers' plans, and political and diplomatic intelligence but also for large-scale commercial theft, international economic espionage, and invasion of privacy.

In 2001 the Temporary Committee on the ECHELON Interception System recommended to the European Parliament that citizens of member states routinely use cryptography in their communications to protect their privacy, because economic espionage with ECHELON has been conducted by the US intelligence.” (SOURCE)

NOW, do you wonder why Americans stand close and whisper in public places, in 2011, yet mindlessly say anything to anyone online, or on a telephone or by text message? 

Call me old fashioned, if you will, but it ticks me off to know that the government has the power to do this.  By the time you read this, the government’s interception center has already read it!

Does this not concern Americans, Brits, Canadians, Aussies, and New Zealanders???  And PLEASE don’t give me the song and dance about protecting us from terrorists.  Terrorists know about Echelon and use “runners” to deliver their messages – live human beings and word of mouth.

Now the government has given the Office of the President the right to simply turn off your radio and TV reception just so you and I can listen to the President of the US warn us of a national emergency, which, most likely,  the regular TV and cable networks have already told us about!

As an American citizen, I feel violated.  I used to have a right to privacy.  No longer.  Right along with a huge chunk of our freedom and liberty, privacy has been flushed down Big Brother’s toilet and into the “government septic tank.”

Come to think of it, every few years you have to clean our your septic tank.  Seems to me, America’s national septic tank, in Washington, needs cleaning out!

J. D. Longstreet