Homeland Security - a three-fer

First - from The London Daily Mail:

Facebook got 10,000 requests for data from NSA in just six months (and Microsoft received 7,000 orders)
Facebook and Microsoft were able to reveal limited information on Friday night about the government orders they have received to turn over user data to security agencies.

Ted Ullyot, Facebook's general counsel, said in a statement that they had between 9,000 and 10,000 requests from all government entities, from local to federal, in the last six months of 2012.

The orders involved the accounts of between 18,000 and 19,000 Facebook users on a broad range of surveillance topics, from missing children to terrorism.

Microsoft said they had between 6,000 and 7,000 orders, affecting between 31,000 and 32,000 accounts, but downplayed how much they had revealed.

Second - from c|net:

NSA admits listening to U.S. phone calls without warrants
The National Security Agency has acknowledged in a new classified briefing that it does not need court authorization to listen to domestic phone calls.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, disclosed this week that during a secret briefing to members of Congress, he was told that the contents of a phone call could be accessed "simply based on an analyst deciding that."

If the NSA wants "to listen to the phone," an analyst's decision is sufficient, without any other legal authorization required, Nadler said he learned. "I was rather startled," said Nadler, an attorney and congressman who serves on the House Judiciary committee.

Third - from Politicker:

Janet Napolitano Denies Existence of �Orwellian State�
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano weighed in on the NSA intelligence leaks on Friday, telling NY1 that fears over government surveillance were overblown.

�I think people have gotten the idea that there�s an Orwellian state out there that somehow we�re operating in. That�s far from the case,� she told Errol Louis during an appearance on Road to City Hall.

Despite civil liberties advocates� fears that monitoring efforts have gone too far, �there are lots of protections built into the system,� Ms. Napolitano said, pointing to a privacy office embedded in her own department that is �constantly reviewing our policies and procedures.� She further stressed the court review system.

�No one should believe that we are simply going willy-nilly and using any kind of data that we can gather,� she said.

Excuse me? Denies Existence of �Orwellian State�? Hell -- she is the very embodiment of an Orwellian State -- the Big Sister overseeing us, nudging us along the correct path, guiding our life to serve the state and to let the state serve us. None for me thanks -- I prefer to do my own thinking...