In Which Bush Further Erodes Our Freedoms
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/11/washington/11cnd-phone.html?hp&ex=1147406400&en=9ebc2132b83f0bfd&ei=5094&partner=homepage
This article and issue particularly disturbs me because it was done in collaboration with American companies. Granted, many of them being cell phone companies, one shouldn't be surprised if they were monitored. Nonetheless, the idea that there is a database of phone numbers each person has called disturbs me. That sort of information, while sometimes innocuous, is simply too personal for me to be willing to cede such information to the government. I feel the same way about it as I do about my library records: it may harm no one to know what I've checked out of the library, but if someone went prying into this, I would feel the urge to decapitate them.
It shouldn't be that much of a surprise. After the Patriot Act, the idea that the government wasn't carring out such domestic spying policies was rather hard to believe. When it came out that there were illegal NSA wiretaps, such ideas were confirmed. Still, those phone calls and emails were international; these are domestic. Officials contend that there was no actual wiretapping, simply a record of telephone numbers. This seems rather difficult to believe, and even if it were true, I'd question the legality of such actions. Some officials state that it is comparable to the monitoring of the addresses and names of people who send mail to suspects; however, this is far too many "suspects" for this assertion to be valid. Furthermore, such monitoring of suspects requires reasonable suspicion and a court overseeing such investigations. Thus, it requires a degree of accountability, something that this program certainly does not have.
One can only take comfort in that the President's poll ratings are currently at an incredible low. This increases the likelyhood that some sort of action might be taken against his actions, especially after the election, where the Democrats will hopefully make inroads into Congress.
This article and issue particularly disturbs me because it was done in collaboration with American companies. Granted, many of them being cell phone companies, one shouldn't be surprised if they were monitored. Nonetheless, the idea that there is a database of phone numbers each person has called disturbs me. That sort of information, while sometimes innocuous, is simply too personal for me to be willing to cede such information to the government. I feel the same way about it as I do about my library records: it may harm no one to know what I've checked out of the library, but if someone went prying into this, I would feel the urge to decapitate them.
It shouldn't be that much of a surprise. After the Patriot Act, the idea that the government wasn't carring out such domestic spying policies was rather hard to believe. When it came out that there were illegal NSA wiretaps, such ideas were confirmed. Still, those phone calls and emails were international; these are domestic. Officials contend that there was no actual wiretapping, simply a record of telephone numbers. This seems rather difficult to believe, and even if it were true, I'd question the legality of such actions. Some officials state that it is comparable to the monitoring of the addresses and names of people who send mail to suspects; however, this is far too many "suspects" for this assertion to be valid. Furthermore, such monitoring of suspects requires reasonable suspicion and a court overseeing such investigations. Thus, it requires a degree of accountability, something that this program certainly does not have.
One can only take comfort in that the President's poll ratings are currently at an incredible low. This increases the likelyhood that some sort of action might be taken against his actions, especially after the election, where the Democrats will hopefully make inroads into Congress.