Image Credit: White House photo by Eric Draper.
Eavesdrops Keep Fallin' on Our Heads
BBSNews Editor's Notes 2006-05-12 -- And who knows who is checking to see if our feet are too big for our beds? USA Today ran a huge front page story yesterday that spelled out the scope and breadth in the surveillence debate. It is technically not eavesdropping according to the sources quoted, but today in an editorial the New York Times points out that the program as outlined provides a rather complete snapshot of millions of Americans and businesses and their day to day movements and associations.
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President George W. Bush makes a brief statement to the nation Thursday, May 11, 2006, regarding the domestic surveillance program. Said the President, "Our most important job is to protect the American people from another attack, and we will do so within the laws of our country."
Image Credit: White House photo by Eric Draper. |
The Times wrote:
"The government has stressed that it is not listening in on phone calls, only analyzing the data to look for calling patterns. But if all the details of the program are confirmed, the invasion of privacy is substantial. By cross-referencing phone numbers with databases that link numbers to names and addresses, the government could compile dossiers of what people and organizations each American is in contact with."
In other words, if you are having an affair, the government knows it. If you are contemplating an abortion, they know it. They know your political, medical, legal, workplace, family associations etc in excruciating timeline detail. Are you looking to go to another employer, the administration knows it. If you are privately contacting a patent attorney while working for a large corporation, they know it. Even though the most current claim is that the actual "internals" of the telephone conversation is not monitored, by simply laying your calls against the list and times of the receiving party's, the government now has a five year database of millions of Americans and the businesses that sell to them. Every call to a plumber. Calls to the florist. Calls to the undertaker.
From the cradle to the grave digging into the lives of millions of Americans who are apparently linked to Al-Qaida simply by being Americans.
Senator Patrick Leahy said yesterday as reported by the Washington Post "Are you telling me that tens of millions of Americans are involved with al-Qaida? These are tens of millions of Americans who are not suspected of anything. ... Where does it stop?"
All of the people who have come out in support of the revelations by USA Today should be seriously scrutinized as to their motivations. Is a program that collects millions of Americans records where such mundane day to day things as a phone call to the pediatrician is logged and widely shared between government agencies in the public interest?
The implications of this are beyond belief. Oh yes I have seen many of the comments at other news outlets that issue the tired old claim about "if you have nothing to hide, what are you afraid of?"
I invite you to go to Google, and look up your own area code and telephone number. Then click on the helpful link that takes you to the map to your house. Just for fun click on the option to show the satellite map view. Then imagine all the cool technology that the government has.
President Bush made an unusual and hasty effort to counteract the effect of this story and made a brief statement just after noon yesterday where he said in part:
"We're not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans. Our efforts are focused on links to al Qaeda and their known affiliates."
If they, all the government agencies that are getting this data "product", have your number they have your name. Go to Google and enter the phone number of your family doctor. Say you made or received 300 phone calls over five years. The time that the government has reportedly been collecting this data nearly nationwide except for the areas served by Qwest, who held out because of privacy concerns and compliance with the law.
President Bush made four explicit claims in his hastily put together news conference yesterday:
First, our international activities strictly target al Qaeda and their known affiliates. Al Qaeda is our enemy, and we want to know their plans. Second, the government does not listen to domestic phone calls without court approval. Third, the intelligence activities I authorized are lawful and have been briefed to appropriate members of Congress, both Republican and Democrat. Fourth, the privacy of ordinary Americans is fiercely protected in all our activities.
Let's parse shall we?
Yesterday we learned that the administration has access to the last time you called your veterinarian to schedule an unknown something for your pet. They didn't collect the content of your call. They just monitored your every call out. And your every call in. Sorting that meaningful spreadsheet report for your boss suddenly has taken on new meaning. Doesn't it? If it was your phone number and you were sorting how it fell out with all the other phone numbers that your number had either called or been called by, would you not be able to piece together a large part of your own life?
BBSNews Editor's Notes are raw commentary from Michael Hess, the editor of BBSNews. These are not hard news stories. They are a running commentary on current events that may include personal invective and bias. Comments from this observers notebook should not be confused with hard news from other portions of BBSNews. You have been warned.
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