That's the whole point... the telcos are being ripped / sued for providing numbers only... not names... just from and to numbers..
If you have the numbers, there are tons of reverse directories from which to get the names...
They don't need the telcos to monitor the numbers.
Agreed.
There are some people in this country who are so stupid that they think the feds are sitting there listening to their telephone calls to cousin Mary about next week's pot luck, Jane's call to her sister-in-law about Billy's new braces, and Jack's call to his doctor about his hemorrhoids. The numerics of such an undertaking render the notion completely impossible.
I'm a small, low-intrusion government-type, but one thing the constitution charges the CIC and the executive branch with is national security. I WANT them to know - no, make that "EXPECT" them to know WHO the terrorists are calling, and who they, in turn, are calling.
The left is so hypocritical on this subject. They want the government to know where and how we earn every penny that comes into our pockets, but they have a major stroke because the government has a record of the domestic phone numbers called by foreign terrorists and who they call. It's beyond absurd. They should be more conserned about the automatic dial recorded telemarketers than this silliness.