◼ On Thursday, Glenn Greenwald, the UK Guardian journalist who helped break two major stories on government surveillance, told CNN's Piers Morgan that the Obama administration has been "bullying and threatening" anyone "who thinks about exposing it or writing about it or even doing journalism" about the subject, Business Insider reported. - examiner.com
Worse yet, he says, the U.S. government is actively working to destroy privacy around the world.
"There is a massive apparatus within the United States government that with complete secrecy has been building this enormous structure that has only one goal," he said.
"And that is to destroy privacy and anonymity not just in the United States but around the world."
Greenwald wasn't finished, however.
"It's well past time that we have a debate about whether that's the kind of country and world in which we want to live," he added. "We haven't had that debate because it's all done in secrecy and the Obama administration has been very aggressive about bullying and threatening anybody who thinks about exposing it or writing about it or even doing journalism about it. It's well past time that that come to an end."
Late Wednesday, Greenwald reported that the NSA has been collecting phone data on millions of Verizon customers on a daily basis under a secret court order.
Later, the Washington Post reported that the NSA and the FBI have been engaged in a highly classified data collection program called "PRISM" that was established in 2007.
◼ GLENN GREENWALD: The US Wants To 'Destroy Privacy Around The World' - Business Insider
...The Obama administration and some members of Congress have defended the use of the programs. Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) said the NSA's collection of phone data has been going on for seven years. Feinstein said it's about "protecting America."
"People like Dianne Feinstein and Saxby Chambliss can have press conferences threatening people for bringing light to what it is they're doing, but the only people who are going to be investigated are them," Greenwald said in response.
"It's well past time that these threats start to be treated with the contempt that they deserve."
◼ U.S., British intelligence mining data from nine U.S. Internet companies in broad secret program - Barton Gellman and Laura Poitras/Washington Post
