US fighting ‘fictional’ terrorism
Sherwood Ross, a Florida-based civil rights activist, says the US National Security Agency�™s spying efforts have �œnothing to do with terrorism,” as claimed by the super spy agency.
After embarrassing revelations that the agency is gathering massive data on phone calls and Internet records of American citizens and foreign nationals, NSA officials claimed that their surveillance programs were aimed at fighting �œterrorism.”
But the spying activities are all �œillegal” and will only �œhurt” Americans�™ interests, Ross said in an interview with Press TV on Saturday.
He noted that it�™s not the first time that Washington is trying to justify its wrongdoing. The US claimed 12 years ago, when it went to a war on Afghanistan, that the conflict was a �œwar on terror.” That was also �œfictional,” Ross said.
The �œwar on terror” was created by the United States to justify its military operations throughout the world, he added.
Latest revelations suggest that the NSA is tracking the locations of �œhundreds of millions” of people worldwide using cellphone GPS.
The Washington Post reported, citing documents leaked by former NSA Edward J. Snowden, that the agency is collecting so-called cell-site location data in its bulk metadata dragnets. The NSA collects nearly 5 billion records a day, including those of Americans, and uses the information to track individuals and their interactions, according to the report.
Cellphone location is a particularly sensitive topic for privacy advocates, many of whom argue that knowing where one is because of one’s cellphone is more invasive than even listening in on a conversation, since the location is registered even when the cellphone is not being used for conversation.
ARA/ARA
Source: Press TV
Source: http://rinf.com/alt-news/breaking-news/us-fighting-fictional-terrorism/
