Re: I don't know who's leaking this stuff...

D.F. Manno did pass the time by typing:
> "DougW" wrote:

>> GW's statement was not entirely accurate, but not exactly a
>> lie. The U.S. already has high court approval to tap phones
>> under certain circumstances.
>>
>> The focus is on calls going to known terrorist countries or
>> organizations. Even with the DIA/NSA computer power there is no
>> way to listen to all calls that are made.  The numbers are used
>> to establish calling patterns, the calling patterns are used to
>> identify people of interest and then, if necessary, court
>> orders are sought.
>
> The NSA is collecting records on hundreds of millions of phone calls _within_
> the U.S. Are you seriously contending that each and every one of them
> involves a terrorist organization?

No, I never said such a thing.  I said they are used to establish calling
patterns that can be tied to terrorist countries OR organizations.  Terrorist
organizations (cells) and terrorist support structures exist within the U.S.

> And as for "not mining or trolling," does he or you seriously expect us to
> believe that he's collecting all that information and doing nothing with it?

Of course not.  They are doing data analysis on the numbers and noting those
that come from or go to numbers previously associated with terrorist
organizations, or "persons of interest."  I also believe they are keeping
the records for years and using other sources of information like the credit
companies and major private intel warehouses like ChoicePoint.

Quite frankly I am more worried about these private companies that the Government
since the private companies operate without guidance and tend to have whoppingly
huge leaks of private information.

Software tools such as ADAM http://www.saic.com/datamining/data-analysis.html
are in common use to find fraud and criminal activity.  Banks and transactions
are monitored.  Point of fact, any transaction $10,000 or greater is reported
to the DEA/IRS by your bank as a part of the war on drugs.

There is a great perception of privacy where none actually exists.  All sorts
of personal information is bought and sold on a daily basis by major corporations.
Actually if you have a credit card there is an amazing amount of information you
can buy about anyone.

The only way to remain truly private is to use cash only, make your calls from
Pay-As-You-Go mobile phones where you can buy refills for cash, ride a horse,
and live in a tent somewhere in southwestern Montana.

-- 
DougW