http://www.usatoday.com/news/washing...nsa-reax_x.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/12/wa...rtner=homepage


USAToday is reporting that the NSA has recorded the phone conversations of Tens of Millions of phonecalls from American citizens. The White House is facing a bi-partisan storm over this with some members of Congress threatening to subpena the executives of the major telephone executives as well as White House official in order to explain the incident. Other members are demanding an immediate criminal investigation over the affair.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok, I voted no. I have a very hard time believing that 10 of millions are all related to the war on terror. The ability to record a conversation without a warrent would be already hard to justify if it were just one or two people. But we are talking about 10 of Millions of phonecalls! There is no way they can be all terror related, its simply impossible there are simply not that many terrorists in the world. Besides FICA (secret court that issues snap Federal warrents) is entirely pro-govornment. 95% of its decisions come on the side of government. The excuse "not having time to get a warrent" is simply BS.

This is nothing more than government espionage of its citizenry.

Did you know that we have more intercepted/monitored phone calls in Italy than they have in the US?

More than "tens of Millions"?

Probably more than half the population of the country. Yeah but you know these things are regulated by the law ad all that, official figures are released but it's just the tip of the iceberg. The overwhelming majority of them are never going to be publicly recognized.
It is the way it most likely is in Italy.

I heard a poll on radio this morning that said 2/3 of the Americans who were asked said that they were for the surveillance.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story...C-RSSFeeds0312

I still hear Ben Franklins words in my ears and cannot stomach this.

Here's some interesting facts on the NSA that I never knew. They may have been listening to us since the beginning of WWII.

ABOUT THE NSA
As a nod to the secrecy of the National Security Agency, people have jokingly said that its acronym — NSA — stands for "no such agency," or even "never say anything." The agency, headquartered at Fort Meade in Maryland, is the largest government spy outfit in the world.

Number of employees
30,000

Who they are
Mathematicians, linguists, engineers, physicists, computer scientists, engineers and other specialists and staff.

Budget
Classified

What it does
Cryptology, the science of making and cracking codes.
Making codes is referred to as "information assurance" in NSA language. This is the art of scrambling signals to prevent people from tapping into telephone signals and other communications.
For example, one of the NSA missions is to assure President Bush talks on a secure telephone line.
Cracking codes is referred to as "signals intelligence" at the NSA. This is the science of tapping into telephone conversations and other communications. It includes analysis of codes and the use of people who have a deep understanding not only of foreign languages but also cultures. This helps those people offer understanding of subtle layers, such as sarcasm, in foreign languages.

History
President Truman created the NSA in 1952 to bring military and civilian efforts under one roof. The agency was first headquartered in Washington, D.C., but moved a few miles away to Fort Meade in 1957 after fears of an atomic bomb swept the capital.
Other actions by the National Security Agency, or by U.S. military cryptologists who would eventually become part of the agency:

• During World War II, uncovered Japanese plans to attack U.S. forces on Midway Island, a U.S. territory in the Pacific Ocean. This allowed U.S. forces to defeat the Japanese there in 1942.

• Helped U.S. Army Gen. Walton Walker avoid enemy fire at the Pusan Perimeter in Korea in 1950.

• Offered evidence of Soviet-supported arms buildup in Cuba before and during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. Interesting facts

• Produces 40,000 pounds a day in shredded documents.

• Has its own restricted exit off the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. At the end of the ramp is a security booth and a guard who turns away motorists not employed by or officially visiting the NSA.

If you want to annoy them, try saying everything you can related to terrorist plots and the location of Bin Laden on the phone and end the call with "Hello Mr. NSA do you know Sam Fisher?"

The problem with this is that only key words have to pop up for it to be intercepted...they may be using the words in casual conversation but it still picks up the trigger words...thats probably why there are tens of millions...

I have always been skeptical of this story of "specific words" (Bin Laden, White House, attacks, anthrax etc) that would be intercepted. I remember it all came out when they put out the Echelon story.
I mean millions and millions of people every single day mention those words on phone calls. It would be ridiculous. Imo all the calls are monitored and listened to. Otherwise I don't see how it could work.