The NSA can listen to your calls without a warrant

Before Congress could make comments against the NSA, the agency told lawmakers in a secret meeting that interpretation of federal surveillance law allows the NSA to listen to domestic and international calls. We're not just talking about metadata here, but both sides of a full conversation. This most likely includes your texts and emails. All that is required is an analyst to give his or her thumbs up and your phone call has a third party involved that you are you are unaware of.

This information comes from Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat who revealed last week the NSA's briefing on Capitol Hill. Nadler was stunned to hear that the only thing required for the NSA to listen in on your calls is an analyst's approval and does not require prior legal authorization. The NSA's annual budget is undisclosed but is believed to be in the range of $10 billion which allows the agency to own the technology giving it the ability to record all domestic and international calls.

According to a published report, the NSA has a listening post in Utah that enables it to go through billions of phone calls whether the call was originated in the U.S. or internationally. Carriers like AT&T that allow the agency to comb its servers, receive immunity from civil or criminal liability thanks to a law passed in 2008 which was renewed four years later. And while the law says that the NSA "may not intentionally target any person known at the time of acquisition to be located in the United States," some legal experts say that this can be interpreted to say that the NSA can grab as much domestic information as it wants, as long as it wasn't targeting a particular person.

source: CNET

UPDATE:According to information from the AP, fewer than 300 phone numbers were checked by the NSA program and the program prevented terrorist activity in more than 20 countries. In addition, the Obama administration has clarified earlier information and says that despite Congressman Nadler's initial comments, a warrant is still required for law enforcement officials to listen in to your phone calls. However, theNSA can, with this approval, listen in to complete conversations and receive more than just the metadata involving a phone call.

source: AP