Posted on 05/11/2006 12:30:13 PM PDT by demlosers
Washington is agog today with the disclosure that appeared in USA Today that Verizon, AT&T and Bell South have been providing domestic phone call information to the National Security Agency on millions of residential and business phone calls made by Americans.
It’s all part of the spy agency’s quest to create a huge database of caller information it could data mine in order to find patterns that might reveal terrorist communications. But it has raised enormous privacy concerns in the minds of many.
The USA Today report, coming after last year’s disclosure in the New York Times of the NSA’s warrantless electronic surveillance of phone calls it deems to be connected to terrorism ginned up the debate over how far is too far in the Bush administration’s efforts to protect the American people from al Qaeda and other terrorists.
The newspaper’s disclosure modified a lot of plans today. President Bush, on his way to give a commencement address in Biloxi, Miss., stopped in the White House’s Diplomatic Reception Room to deliver a brief statement to the press.
By the way, the president’s rapid response was remarkable. When other bad news has hit, say Dubai Ports World or the initial revelations of the NSA surveillance last December, there was a noticeable lag which allowed White House critics to define the debate.
The president’s quickness before today might be attributable to Tony Snow, the new press secretary. Or it could be that the White House is so nervous about the president’s ever lower poll ratings that he and his advisors felt he had to speak and quickly.
PRESIDENT BUSH: After September the 11th, I vowed to the American people that our government would do everything within the law to protect them against another terrorist attack. As part of this effort, I authorized
(Excerpt) Read more at newsblogs.chicagotribune.com ...
People are defending it because "our people" are doing it. It is absolute bull crap. If Hillary & Bill ordered the NSA to record the numbers of every phone call made in the US, I am so fracking sure that people would be saying it was a good thing to piss on our rights.
These numbers are only activity numbers. They don't know who owns them or who receives the call. These numbers distilled and analyzed for patterns. If a ‘known bad guy’ number is called they can cross check to see who else may be involved. This type of data mining does not identify anyone. I do not believe this is an infringement on our freedoms.
The danger lies in using this type of technology for personal purposes or to achieve an illegal objective. This would then be ‘unconstitutional’ / illegal.
Gawd, thank you! I'm glad there are still some folks here who get it.
> The danger lies in using this type of technology for personal purposes or to achieve an illegal objective. This would then be ‘unconstitutional’ / illegal.
BINGO! Maybe you trust the current folks in the govt to not abuse this information, but guess what-- the other party might get in, and how do you feel about THEM using this information? How do you think Hitlery would use it?
We have no way of knowing how this is being used/abused, only what they tell us.
Exactly.
I will give some scenarios. Corporate people bribing friends in government to find out which company is talking to whom.
Whistleblowers being exposed, both corporate and governmental. I am not talking National Security here. I am talking about a person who exposes cost overruns or something. All of this sitting in a databank, with only the programmers, and the administration in charge of it.
Stalkers could bribe their way in. They could access the numbers of friends of their victim. To figure out the victims new number and reverse trace it.
There are a ton of ways this can be abused. If they want to listen to Osama fine, but don't keep records of when I called my mother last. Big brother is here.
That is a danger, but IMO the greater danger is the government believing it can just get that kind of data with no probable cause. And at the end of the day, it IS a search when the government mines the data.
And I don't see a court order, either. So much for the claims of people here that I have no expectation of privacy when I use my phone.
You are so stuck on yourself, you keep saying their compiling a list on YOU of YOUR yada yada yada. No they're not, it's got nothing to do with YOU. The NSA doesn't even know it's YOU. They don't know who the blank it is and they don't care. It is to see patterns of numbers calling other numbers, if anything looks tied to terrorism (and they have their intel ways of deciding), they can get a warrant to listen in. So your phone company may know you by name and account number but NSA does not, and could not care less. But go ahead and acuse the rest of us who aren't borderline of all kinds of stuff. I just consider the source and it rolls right off me.
Hilarious, what hysteria will break out on FR next week?
Could Bush be ANY MORE EVIL than he already is?
Can this evildoer even be human?
It looks as if some "boys" here have no dealings with the IRS.
MORE FAKE NEWS.
NEXT ... A FAKE POLL ON THE FAKE NEWS.
Let's see - since 9/11 the NSA has been monitoring phone conversations and since 9/11 there have been no further attacks within the US. Could there be a correlation there?
If you base your rant on the limited bildge of an MSM liberal media source, you are a moron.
The MSM prints a story with their selective details.
The anti-American/'hope for dead troops' rag that is USA Today is the source.
Wait till the facts come out before you cry like Chris Matthews.
They have MY CALLING DATA. Without a SUBPEONA, without PROBABLE CAUSE, and without MY PERMISSION.
You may be willing to throw away your rights, but you do not have the perogative to throw mine away for me.
Not true.
It's not illegal if the President says it's not.
Read post #108 and get back to us, unless you prefer to remain ignorant of the larger underlying issues, which IMO is quite likely.
You are, obviously. The mailing address on my bill is for my house. Not the NSA.
What is so hard about all this that your tiny mind can't process it?
And he/she was arguing that a phone book contains the same information that the NSA is gathering. That makes you a moron raised by a factor or so.
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