NSA building massive database of US domestic phone records

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
... small government is not a goal for W. Bush Republicans.

To be fair, they want it small enough so as not to provide oversight as to their corporate sponsors, like Enron, Worldcom, Adelphia, and Exxon-Mobil.

But they need a large government if they want to control the actions and thoughts of ordinary Americans.

[Dis]

This is un****ing believable. And yet people laugh at my calls to overthrow the goverment.

Can't people the goverment is out of control. They are supposed to work for us. The goverment should fear the people, not the other way around.

okay maybe I'm going overboard here. What do I care who they know I call. So I call gay phone sex lines. What's the big deal? Everyone does it.

[Ninot]

Originally posted by Dis

okay maybe I'm going overboard here. What do I care who they know I call. So I call gay phone sex lines. What's the big deal? Everyone does it.

QFT

[Ninot]

Originally posted by Ogie Oglethorpe

Within the limitted scope of those connecting to overseas numbers ID'd as belonging to suspected terrorists, yes.

That's what they CLAIM.

They also claimed there were undoubtedly WMD in Iraq.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui


Apparently this administration has turned its supporters into sheep. If it was Clinton doing this, the Republican Party would be up in arms... but privacy rights don't matter anymore and small government is not a goal for W. Bush Republicans.

It's utterly shameful.

Actually the much more intrusive Echelon project was disclosed and nary a peep from teh repugs.

Reference 60 minutes story in 2000.

Whats more it was alleged that Echelon was used for nefarious purposes of industrial espionage and likewsie political opponents of the Clintons were allegedly surveilled.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

STOP *****ING AND START VOTING GODDAM LIBERTARIAN AT THE NEXT ELECTION BECAUSE THESES ****S ARENT GONNA DO **** ABOUT IT EXCEPT a) IGNORE IT (REPUBLICANS) or b) WHINE ABOUT IT AND HOPE NO ONE ASKS THEM FOR THEIR PLAN (DEMOCRATS)

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

I voted Libertarian last time and will probably do so again.

[Arrian]

I voted Lib in 1996. But the Libs are crazy. The Greens probably are too, and I threw a vote their way too (2000).

-Arrian

[Elok]

There really is no way in hell the NSA could monitor all those calls. It's not like even random sampling would yield meaningful results, since the terrorist contacts they're looking for are extremely rare as a percentage of the overall mass. Unless they're total morons, they're not trying to scan the content of the calls for terrorist activity. As for the possibility of spying for other motives, again, the sheer mass of calls we're talking about here basically precludes that. They can compare basic facts like origin, destination, et cetera, but given the sheer number of calls made every day and the number of already-overburdened employees in the Federal gov't., the chances of any particular person being spied on are slightly lower than those of getting hit by a drunk driver, and they have no means of even beginning to determine which individuals to spy on, short of "hmm, this guy's name sounds kind of Arabic."

I can't imagine they'll glean any useful info even from their overview. With that many people and calls to monitor, any patterns which emerge are more likely to be coincidental than an actual indication of terrorist activity. In fact, with that many calls, I imagine they'll have a bear of a time just getting their computers to sort the records meaningfully. I thought a lot of people on 'Poly had experience with the enormous headache of trying to teach a computer critical thinking skills?

A large number of extremely short calls made entirely from one location to another (all one way), in a very short period of time...hmm, better have the computer tag that as "suspicious," right? You'll get one terrorist contact, tops, and five thousand desperate losers stalking their ex-girlfriends.

Which isn't to say that this is all that legal or ethical, just that only Elmer Fudd would try to build a police state on this. What the article says is that Bush is being an overzealous, inconsiderate ass, and not even for an intelligent reason. As usual.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

so you guys just gonna continue to bend over and take it up the ass?

this is the most unamerican **** done against the american people by the government in my lifetime.

and now there is no oversight either.

[Pekka]

Na na naana, na na naana..

heee-heee-ey... goodbye....

The most surveilled society just upped the ante. China tries to follow but uh oh, most likely will fail with this one.

Kiss your privacy goodbye and your right to it. See few people raising their voice, but the rest? THat's the reason why this kind of unbelievable crap will pass. These are news that seems unreal. Apparently not.

Heeee-heeee-eyyyy.. goodbye...

[Pekka]

lol and no one will even go to jail for this?

I can't find comparisons to joke here.. because there are none! And just to turn the knife in the dead body, you did gave mandate to this (according to some) and also PAID for this.. LOolzz

[Ted Striker]

Supercitizen, we need your help

TIME TO SUIT UP AND TAKE OUT THE GARBAGE BEYOTCH

[Arrian]

Originally posted by Lawrence of Arabia
so you guys just gonna continue to bend over and take it up the ass?

this is the most unamerican **** done against the american people by the government in my lifetime.

and now there is no oversight either.

What are you gonna do? You have a plan?

-Arrian

[Ted Striker]

I swear, this nation is waiting for a Messiah to rescue us from the Evil Bastard


Should one appear it will be interesting to see what happens