:: NEWS COCKTAIL aka BlahBlahBlog ::
"Everything is being compressed into tiny tablets. You take a little pill of news every day - 23 minutes - and that's supposed to be enough." -Walter Cronkite, RE TV news. The Web has changed that for many, however, and here is an extra dose for your daily news cocktail. This prescription tends to include surveillance and now war-related links, along with the occasional pop culture junk and whatever else seizes my attention as I scan online news sites.:: 5.11.2006 ::
:: Surveillance nation update ::
Report: NSA Building Database of U.S. Phone Calls
From npr.org
The government's National Security Agency is building a giant database of all phone calls placed by Americans within the U.S., according to a report published in USA Today. The article says that the spy agency has been helped by major phone companies, including AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth.
Lawmakers Question Collection of Phone Records
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congressional Republicans and Democrats demanded answers from the Bush administration Thursday about a government spy agency secretly collecting records of ordinary Americans' phone calls to build a database of every call made within the country.
Facing intense criticism from Congress, President Bush did not confirm the work of the National Security Agency but sought to assure Americans that their privacy is being "fiercely protected."
"We are not mining or trolling through the personal lives of innocent Americans," Bush said before leaving for a commencement address at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in Biloxi.
The disclosure could complicate Bush's bid to win confirmation of former NSA director Gen. Michael Hayden as CIA director.
ALSO
Q&A: The NSA's Domestic Eavesdropping Program
posted by me
:: 12:18:00 PM [+] ::
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