Yeah, I have to admit, though, that I have a personal bias against AT&T. I'd like to see their CEO Court Martial'd and shot for the outrageous prices I was locked into for two year in exchange for abysmal service. ;)
Here's an update to the issue. Seems the telecom companies will, ultimately, win. God bless the U.S. of A.
Top Democrat Says FISA Deal Near
...Speaking on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer," Reyes said that the House is moving closer to approving a bipartisan Senate passed extension of the law, which contains immunity for telecommunications companies that have previously assisted the government in listening in on potential terrorists' communications.
Note that they referred to your data as "potential terrorists' communications".
And finally, for anyone who's keeping score at home, Bush's comments.
Now the question is, should these lawsuits be allowed to proceed, or should any company that may have helped save American lives be thanked for performing a patriotic service; should those who stepped forward to say we’re going to help defend America have to go to the courthouse to defend themselves, or should the Congress and the President say thank you for doing your patriotic duty? I believe we ought to say thank you.
Ugh. What is it, 10 months and he's finally gone? *sigh* I don't even know if I have the strength to continue to get p**sed at this anymore.
Yo OB - I know a lot of people, including me, fear repressive governments and want to know more about this issue.
Think you could expand it into a 800-1000 word article that explains very simply what the issue is here?
(I know that's an ambitious assignment - 800,000 words wouldn't be enough. Let me know)
-TP
Man, I read a ton of news each day but somehow managed to miss this crazy little tidbit. I mean, seriously, how can a company get away with what is, without any question, treason, unauthorized eavesdropping and recording of personal conversations. Ah, right, the US government, you know the one that gets away with war crimes, lies and extortion on a daily basis, is supporting them...
Great sports teams lose when they lose faith in themselves. When they begin thinking that their is no way to succeed. They often beat themselves because they simply think they have already lost.
So, I ask you this, at what point does the once great US finally cave in an self destruct past the reparation point? When will the people lose so much faith in their corrupt, morally defunct, run rough shod over anyone who stands in the way, style of government that no election, thought of change or source of inspiration will give them the strength to continue?
Well, the good news is that the system is not imploding. The house shot down the bill that would give retroactive immunity. The courts shot down a move to dismiss the class action suit based on the "State secrets" clause. Victory for the bicameral, three branch system, it would seem.
It's hard to blame the U.S. government in this scenario. The ends that the NSA tried to achieve by wiretapping are a direct result of the carte blanche (literally and figuratively) given by the populace in the heated nationalism following "9/11". From the NSA standpoint: when your boss walks up to you and says "Here's an X million/billion dollar budget--which includes your salary. Fight 'terrorism'", these become the only reasonable solutions to an unreasonable proposition.
Today, I think we--our representatives and judiciaries--are beginning to rectify some of the mistakes of our hotheadedness 7 years ago. For my part, I think the system works, albeit slowly.
In a representative democracy, we ultimately only have ourselves to blame. But in a capitalist system, we the public maintain the power--and the DUTY--to hold corporations as wholly accountable as any individual; just as we would've court martialed Benedict Arnold if we would've captured him, I think we should court martial the shareholders at At&T, Verizon, WorldCOM, etc.
Future stock holders might begin to reconsider where exactly the "bottom line" sits when they see 60-year-old investors in jumpsuits at Levenworth.
(Historical Note: Benedict Arnold was a wildly successful General in the American revolution against the British. And yet, for only one act of treason, his legacy stands as a synonym for betrayal.)
Joined: 01-06-07
In lieu of traveling, I read. Not travelogues though--I've found that they just depress me and make the relative comforts of my currently static situation seem unbearable. No, I instead read things that just p**s me off.
Wiretapping, Telecom Companies, and You
As I wait patiently for the federal government to tell me what they've deduced from my travels, I continually read on what the government does to keep tabs on us. Seems it doesn't stop at border crossings.
In order to conduct electronic surveillance operations, the NSA required cooperation from U.S. telecommunications companies. Any telecom companies that provided wiretap access to the NSA without requiring a warrant have violated FISA and exposed themselves to substantial liability.
I'm a techie. Bits and bytes--particularly the organic way in which they traverse a sea of of cables, routers and switches so complex that even technicians refer to it as "the Cloud"--fascinate me on a social, economic and political level. I am not angry at the government for wanting to spy on us for our own safety. This is, in a representative democracy, our own fault really.
What is not our own fault is treachory and betrayal by our fellow countrymen, via AT&T.
The article outlines the measures taken by Telecommunications companies (particularly AT&T) to assist the government in monitoring its populace. They've built NSA-funded facilities in their own distribution centers to collect all digital traffic. Whether or not you use Vonage or Skype, this includes phone conversations. This is like having someone root through your mail--at the post office.
Now our publicly traded politicians are seeking to grant the immunity companies like AT&T so desperately need to avoid being liable for trillions of dollars.
But is there really a monetary value for treason?