NSA BUILDING HUGE DATA BASE OF AMERICAN'S PHONE CALLS
It is "Time to Think" my friends
The revelation of the secret program raises many questions and should be cause for Americans to consider just how intrusive our government should be in order to "protect" the citizens of the United States. What's the big deal? Why should it matter if the NSA or the FBI or the CIA or the IRS compiles a record of each and every contact that American citizens have within (or outside) the borders of America? Is there really a violation of our privacy rights? Should we expect to be able to communicate with anyone we want to without it becoming the governments business? Is every American (by the very actions of this secret program) a "suspected terrorist"? If the NSA or FBI or CIA "requested" all of your banking or credit card transactions in order to possibly aid the "war on terror" and the governments efforts to locate our enemies, would that be acceptable as well? When the NSA or FBI or CIA asks your internet service provider for detailed records of your emails or web sites you've accessed as part of the governments efforts to "protect Americans", will you have any problem with that? Have these things already been requested and are they already being monitored without your knowledge or permission?

Did the telecommunications companies; AT&T, Verizon and Bellsouth violate provisions of the Telecommunications Act or their own customer privacy policies by "voluntarily" providing the NSA with phone records of millions of customers, just because they were "requested" by the NSA? Was Qwest wrong or somehow unpatriotic for opting not to provide the phone records of their customers to the NSA without a legal warrant or court oder to do so? Has the NSA (or other government agency) applied "pressure" of any kind on the three telecommunication giants to voluntarily comply with their requests?

What is the practical purpose of creating a database of billions of phone records and as President Bush stated on May11th, "we're not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans. Our efforts are focused on links to al-Qaida and their known affiliates". The President went on to say; "the government does not listen to domestic phone calls without court approval". What does that mean? Does it mean that domestic only phone calls are not currently being listened to or does it mean that court approval has already been given (and the public just hasn't been told yet) and domestic calls are being listened to at this time? How could the NSA "discover" any terrorist activity or plans if it doesn't listen to the actual calls? Does the NSA possess a list of all suspected al-Qaida (or other terrorist groups) members phone numbers and are attempting to "match" them with phone records from billions of phone calls made by tens of millions of phones used by American citizens or anyone else who is a customer of AT&T, Verizon or Bellsouth?

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution states; "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or things to be seized".

Has there been any violation of the Fourth Amendment by either the NSA or AT&T, Verizon or Bellsouth?



TIME TO THINK

I would like to know what you think about this issue and look forward to your comments.