[Defiant]

Exactly. They don't tell people they are doing this, and then they deny it when caught. The issue is, who is getting the information? I think there is a concerted effort by the government to place backdoors into every communications medium out there, and then to store it in a database. This has been a concern at least since the Echelon program came to light in the 90s under Clinton, but then it was undoubtedly expanded during the WOT under Bush. Carriers and mobile phone makers have to go along or they will suffer. So they do.

If they were up front about what they track, and people didn't mind, that's fine. People like some on this thread who say they have nothing to hide will just accept that someone out there has every text, call and payment they make. But it should be disclosed to people so they can decide for themselves. Otherwise, it is a constitutional violation if collected by the government, and a civil invasion of privacy if done by a commercial entity.

I'd be fine with a huge suit against the companies involved in this.

[AlmaKing]

You imply the fed gov is pushing the comms companies for this, but then you want to sue the companies?

Why not sue the fed gov? Why kill companies?

If the fed gov is pushing them, suing them will do no good.