Don't Get Scroogled 9-17-13

17, September 2013              “Don’t get Scroogled”

The National Security Agency scandal continues to grow. The London Guardian reports that for several years, the NSA has passed many of our phone calls and emails to Israel.  There are no binding limits on the use of this data and Israel can retain this information indefinitely.  Many of these phone numbers were put on an “alert list” in complete violation of court-mandated privacy protections.  There is no way for innocent Americans to escape ‘Big Brothers’ dragnet. Judge Reggie Walton the presiding judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court severely admonished the NSA saying, "The court is exceptionally concerned about what appears to be a flagrant violation of its order in this matter and no longer has any confidence in the NSA." Documents leaked by Snowden, reveal the NSA and its British counterpart, GCHQ works with US technology companies to "covertly influence" their product designs.  Der Spiegel, reports that millions of financial bank financial records have been vacuumed by the NSA’s prying eyes. They have successfully unscrambled encryption codes exposing the most sensitive documents to the most appalling abuse. Telecom companies have been coerced into revealing US emails and phone calls and paid millions of dollars in compensation.  Fearful of losing their customers and invoking the wrath of local and international clients these same companies are falling over themselves at finger pointing their competitors; for example Microsoft has launched an offensive, warning users “Don’t get Scroogled”.