Quite a pair of news stories today. First we find out that the NSA won't give the Justice Department a security clearance to investigate that lovely surveillance program it's got going. So what does the Justice Department do? They drop the investigation. Yes, "magic." Then we find out that those same lovely folks at NSA are collecting a massive, and I mean freakin' massive database of call records. Given the companies involved and the numbers they're talking about, I would bet that every single person in this country has an entry in that database in one form or another.
Yes, that means you.
Now I know Mom doesn't like it when I cuss, but Jesus Christ on a pogo stick, how far does this have to go before someone finally shuts these people down? Do we no longer have any right to privacy in this country? Does it really help the government track down terrorists to know that your spouse calls at 5:30 to see if you want take-out? Bush apologists will claim that this is all to make us safer, but if they didn't have enough people to keep track of the data they were collecting before 9/11, they sure as hell can't keep up with billions of phone calls, not to mention the text messages and other communications I can only assume they're sweeping up as well.
And what can we do about it? Seems like not a damn thing. The Administration can't or won't (most likely the latter) police itself, or the Justice Department wouldn't have folded so easily. Sure, there are people like the ACLU fighting the good fight, but working through the courts takes years. And Congress is a fucking joke. When was the last time they actually acted as a serious counterbalance against anything? The only time they're stirred to action is to give millionaires more money or to pull stunts like compelling brain-dead women to appear before Congress because they "value life." And don't even get me started on the media, who you would think would have at least been energized by the hookergate scandal, but apparently not so much.
Ok, sure I could write to my Senators. I live in freakin' Georgia. My Senators are Republicans, and part of the problem, not the solution. Or maybe I could write to my Representative. He's at least a Democrat, but what's he going to do? Make a speech? He's a freshman in Congress who may have been redistricted out of his seat. I could cancel my cell phone plan. But my land line, not to mention my DSL also go through companies happily cooperating with the government. I don't think it's really productive for a web developer to go all Ted Kaczinski, if he wants to make a living.
I feel like I should have a conclusion here, but am not sure what else I can say beyond "Yeeaaaaarrgh!"
Posted by Jason at May 11, 2006 09:42 PM