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The NSA hears your concerns
Published: 2005-12-20

Details and commentary continue to emerge after the New York Times broke the story just recently of how U.S. President Bush secretly authorized the NSA to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States, despite having knowledge of the situation for more than a year. The respected newspaper chose not to publish the information until recently, due to national security concerns. CNN confirms that Bush issued the domestic eavesdropping orders, therby circumventing the U.S. court system. The Associated Press discusses some of the legal issues. The Washington Post reports that the campaign was used to, "secretly collect information on American citizens on a scale unmatched since the intelligence reforms of the 1970s."

Commentary from Ars technical speculates on the technology behind the massive eavesdropping. Bruce Schneier has a long commentary on historical abuses as well as the NSA's use of Echelon, a massive initiative that monitors voice, fax, and data communications and is used for data mining of perhaps 3 billion communications per day.

At issue are the broad, sweeping powers the NSA now have to eavesdrop on Americans without their knowledge. The orders that circumvent privacy were cloaked under the popular banner of "fighting terrorism" but it has impact on all forms of communication and security now passing throught the U.S. The government continues to allow for secret surveillance without the court-approved warrants that would normally be required for domestic spying.

Update 2005-12-21: added the affirmation that the New York Times knew about the story for more than a year but chose not to release it to the public until recently, citing national security concerns.

Posted by: Kelly Martin

       

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