My quote...Fascism is like a fog that comes in the night which you will not see until the light of morning, at which time you will have no idea of its duration.

ERGO

This guy sounds like another case os somebody sticking their nose where it doesn't belong. I serioulsy doubt that 120 pages of documents outlining the methodology of a top secret government operation were just "left around" the office. Maybe he needs a good IRS audit or two.... or three.....

Will the U.S.Government now pay him WHISTLE BLOWER MONEY?seems that the people in Government can't tell anyone what there illegal plan is SO they run over us lie to us FOR WHAT!

SPENDING RIGHTS TO OUR TAX MONEY!

Osama bin Laden hides in plain site dressed in the traditional garb of muslum women. It is likely he is in site of US troops. He is a coward hiding behind a womens skirt.

So the media is now responsible for the cover up of information.

Call it Un-News.

Interesting... I guess there's a first time for everything, eh?

======================

"Those that don't read the news are un-informed. Those that do read the news, are mis-informed"

... Mark Twain

I can understand if the information was on Americans who are innocent of any wrong doing. But Mr. Klein has more of a personnel desire to release this information based on need to for public recognition and self indulgence. Gentleman, we are in a state of War, Mr. Klein in his hate of the Government and the President found himself right in his own mind to release this secrect information. He claims this does the enemy no good. What makes him so smart in the dealings on National Security. Where did he serve as in Intelligence officer in our government? I quote a long standing thought, "Loose lips sink ships." A bit old for todays times, but just think about what Mr. Klien is trying to do, who does he help, the public, no..the public already knows of our intelligence gathering over the internet. But who is Mr. Klien realy helping, the current news service which will prove some kind of royalties for releasing the story. Maybe. I tell you who is going to lose, We are, Americans who are defending this nation from terrorist in and out of our country. Oh you don't care, as long as the President and the Intelligence community of America don't have the tools to fight international terrorist and Tyrants. You don't Care...? Well get ready folks, the War is coming to our shores and cities, that is the realities of this War. Gentlemen like Mr. Klien, though his intension might be good for some, will cost our country in lives lost do to the fact our intelligence community could not monitor and Identify protentual terrorist in and out of our boarders. That is a fact..
Dario Gonzalez
USAF Retired

It only takes something like this to give weight to all conspiracy theories

Whistle-blower Klein: A unique war requires unique weapons. In this Information Age, we need to use acquired information as one of those weapons. Let's not tie the hands of every legal agency that is trying to secure the safety and liberty of the US like we tied the hands of the US soldiers fighting in Iraq. That country would have been stabilized months ago if it weren't for our internal polarization.

This is another reason why the world do not trust this moron that the supreme court has installed in the white house, a long time ago my father once told me "When you're dumb, you're dangerous, and the occupants of the white house are a very dangerous bunch, lets hope the change in the election of late...would stop these war hungry men from starting world warIII.

this is typical of the total lack of respect for the contitution that has been the hallmark of the Bush Administration. Why these people have not been impeached is a wonder

how about prosecuting this guy???

It's another case of, 'Just thinking about this violates state secrets'. How many terrorists are there in the world? How many with means? .0001% if that? Yet everything we do now resolves around that small number. 99.999% of US citizens have their rights eroded for what? With our government today, the only thing we have to fear is everything.

I also work in the telecommunications industry.
Contrast this story with the apparent resurgence of a monopolistic setting of the telecommunications industry and the aggressive A&M activity of AT&T. Makes one wonder whether the recent FCC rulings weakening CLEC footprints across the USA is due to sound fiscal reasoning by the FCC or ease of controlling and monitoring communications by the NSA. Orwellian for sure – of course only those doing something wrong should worry. Big government is our friend.

With the way radical Islamists use the internet for manipulation and communication, I'm glad national security is onto this. I've got nothing to hide. Makes me wonder what Mark Klein's been up to. If NSA and AT&T can help catch the people that are trying to kill us, go for it.

Scott,
It took only 19 to bring down the two towers of the World Trade Center and to destroy a huge section of the Pentagon. I have no problem with the government monitoring emails until they find the others.

It’s appalling that they very government designed to ‘preserve, defend and protect’ the constitution daily is finding ways to subvert the very basis of our country’s existence. Mr. Bush and his cohorts are one of the greatest dangers to world peace we have today. The removal of basic rights, government intrusions into our privacy is exactly how dictators began their reigns. Other countries are telling us they consider the US as the greatest contributor to world instability. Where did our values go? George Bush has been responsible for more American deaths than Osama Bin Laden. You go, Mark Klein! Thank you, from a fellow American.

No more secrets as they say. They read your mail, videotape you like 60 times a day, your creditcard information, and now all your internet traffic. Don't think there is much left. Way to go big goverment supporters. Can't wait to see if the democrats take over. Then we can be watched and fed along with everyone else.

YEAH.

"If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy" -James Madison

Some of you trust the government way too much. It is a body of people, corruptible fallible people, and yet some of you shrug and think that 'our government won't do that to us!'

Power will always attract the corruptible. We have a Constitution to insure that there are boundaries. Lately, we've been pushing those boundaries to the breaking point.

Guard your privacy and individual liberties, or risk having America devolve into another Rome.

These comments read like a horrible cliche. "He must have something to hide!" "He just hates our government!" "Anyone who doesn't want to help our government must be a terrist! [sic]."

It's somewhat sad to see Americans indulge themselves in such petty fear over an inconsequential group of homicidal maniacs. More people die from drunk driving than terrorism in the US, easily.

What's most humorous is the cowards who wrap themselves in bravery and act like the brave thing to do is give ourselves over to nanny government, when in fact they're the ones crying themselves to sleep over a 1/1000000 chance of terrorism actually ever affecting them.

I guess I'll indulge in a cliche myself - "if we go on like this, the terrorists have already won."

I can not believe the number of people commenting on here who are willing to turn over their lives to the government. We spent countless lives in two World Wars, one Cold War and now three wars in the Middle East to prevent just that. And shame on the LAT for not going forward on the orignal story.

You people scare me.

You are afraid of rag-tag groups of people who want us dead, so you are fine with letting us be monitored..."because I have nothing to hide"?

We went for 40+ years, with thousands of nuclear missles pointed at us, without desecrating our liberty as we have done since 9/11. I'd rather risk another strike that hurts my countrymen, than to smother my liberties, which would kill my country.

That power to monitor won't go away...it will only solidify, and spread...and remember, the same power that the Repubs use now, the Dems can use later. Do you think they won't use it for internal monitoring of 'unamerican activities'? Who defines that?

Sigh...I guess a free country doesn't necessarily yield a love for freedom.

Anyone who thinks the Federal Government, once given access to information, would voluntarily relinquish it once the "war" is over is exceedingly naive. If it were up to our Beloved Leader, the state of emergency would go on forever - the better to keep We the Sheeple from asking too many questions.

By condoning the actions of the Bush Administration and the NSA, you admit defeat. The terrorists have won. They want to destroy our free and open society, and it's working. You frightened children, willing to sacrifice anything in order to be kept safe, are not good Americans. You are slaves to your terror, and our enemies' best friend.

Mark,

You took the words right from my mouth. Being a 23yr conservative male nothing in this world scares me more than the way this country is going.

This is old news. We already know this is going on. This guy has to shop to get a buyer. That in itself speaks volumes. This does nothing to bolster unity in America. Have some cheese to go with your whine. Our freedoms were lost a long time ago when the people of America 'gave' less to the states and more to the government. It's just really ironic to me that a Republican leader is the one to put the accent mark on top. There is a balance between security and freedom and though it doesn't bother me to have this kind of invasion of privacy on a temporary basis, I wouldn't want a permanent policy....certainly not if Hillary were Pres.! If you think Bush's politics are without thought to outside arguments or by bullying tactics, Hillary will exponentially increase those statistics!

They believe that any portion of power confided to me, will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly; for I have sworn upon the altar of god, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. But this is all they have to fear from me: and enough, too, in their opinion.

-Thomas Jefferson to Dr. Benjamin Rush, Sept. 23, 1800

Alright a couple of points here:

"Loose ships sink ships." is what is referred to as a straw man argument. Yes loose ships sink ships but that has nothing to do with our privacy rights and freedoms being infringed upon. No ships are at stake in this case, and even if they were these are civilians that are being monitored not servicemen. This is about illigal and indiscriminate inteligence gathering on US citizens not legitament war time stadegies. This is about a man calling attention to a law being broken, a law that is every bit as legitiment as any in our country including our constitution. This is not about a man telling the enimy about a ship that's about to attack them. It's more like a man telling the country about a ship that's about to collide with the statue of liberty. If you can't see the difference, then something is seriously skewed with your logic.

We take Bush's word that they are only surveying "suspected terrorists" and even if this were true, as suspects and not convicts they still have privacy rights. The moment we start allowing law enforcement, intelligence, or the military to arbitrarily remove rights when they have suspicions is the moment our rights are nothing more then a delusion of semantics.

By gathering intel on everyone, and filtering it out to just suspects they effectively are putting the cart before the house. By having such a large pool of information they have enough to determine suspects based on that pool, thus justifying it's collection. This is a convenient bit of circular logic that means anyone, anywhere is a suspect if they do something suspicious. Such as what I'm doing now by exercising my free speech and giving an unpopular opinion about something they're doing.

I find it totally odd that everyone is so trusting of the same government that has lied and caused the deaths of many innocent soldiers, treats it's veterans like crap and financially supports all types of people instead of its own. Our freedoms stem from people who left opression and tyrants, not to be followed up by another form of it. I agree, some things are necessary but we could be spending money on more productive things than spying on internet traffic.

Mark Klein is a patriot. He risks his job to expose physical evidence of a crime against our constitution. This is grounds for the impeachment of George Bush. War or no war, this is an infringement to our most basic rights as American citizens.

The Fourth amendment to the United States Constitution is one of the provisions included in the Bill of Rights. The Amendment guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, and was originally designed as a response to the controversial writs of assistance (a type of general search warrant), which were a significant factor behind the American Revolution.

Once our leaders start disregarding what is written in the constitution, the terrorist have won the first battle of the war.

God Bless America. Because we're going to need it.

The sheer asinine comments of those willing to let the government run their lives is a testament to the sedentary 'see, hear, speak no evil' drones of middle america. It's preposterous to allow things like this happen 'because we want to protect you'

Protect you from what? Terrorism? What's Terrorism to you may be free speech to most..Terrorism to you may be worshipping what god you want to choose to most...Terrorism to the guy doing the Big Brother may be an ordinary way of life to most. The point is that giving up little freedoms to a faceless 'mothering' is a true real terror. Little freedoms add up and then big freedoms begin to erode.

And to the people who say 'he should not be sticking his nose in' I got three words for you - The Pentagon Papers. Look it up and find out why sometimes 'sticking your nose in' is needed.

'For your own good' is NOT an answer to impeding on what people bled for today, yesterday, and inevitably the future.

A lot of you people are funny. Do you think the Bush Administration was the 1st to to a national wiretap? The NSA has been around along time prior to them coming out of the closet. Think about how many years NSA and other agencies gathered info on the masses. Stop using Bush as the one who started this. Our government has been spying on its people for 50+ years now and all of a sudden people are like "OH MY GOD IT SO WRONG" Wake up and smell the roses. Only reason we know about it now is because technology is more abundant and the media is all over the place. Goes back to another old saying, "what you don't know can't hurt ya"

The actions of this administration since 9/11 has been suspect at the very least. We have opted out of the Geneva Convention and theatened war with the Netherlands if an American were brought up on charges and we have detained the usual suspects for five years or more without access to family, lawyers or any due course guaranteed under a democracy.

How are we suppose to trust those who went to war under the guise of promoting democracy, yet deny them the benefits of democracy?

Anyone can be considered a terrorist at any given moment, including those who criticize the administration or the war.

The words 'National Security' is being used as a rationalization as it was during the Nixon administration to cover up that administrations crimes against the American people. Then, covert spying on American citizens were rampant, especially those who criticized the Viet-Nam war or the Nixon administration. Sound familiar?

Very well done Jerry.

Gosh .... and all this time I thought it was "Loose lips sink ships."

Remember this: Wars are between governments, and, big government will protect only itself. OBL hates our govt seemingly, but, its more about what he wants to see the world shaped into. OBL uses our govt as his whipping boy for recruitment, and our govt uses OBL as its reason to clamp down. EVEN IF the monitoring is not being used in abusive way, a person someday in the future will say, "get me the internet traffic for that Greg Sudderth guy, find something, find something where he supports OBL and let's pick him up." If its a resource, someone will use it. We don't leave loaded guns around the house on the sofa, do we?

As someone who works in the IT field, I can tell you first hand that 1) The government does not care what the average joe does on the internet and 2) The government does not have the resources to capture everything on the internet, at this point in time it is impossible. That amount of data (even per minute) exceeds the limitations of mass storage and would call for warehouses full of drives/tapes etc (and that might only capture 1 days worth of information).

"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." - Quote by that pesky, left-wing nut Benjamin Franklin. Let's remember what it means to live in America, and stop freely sacrificing our liberties. If we do, the "bad guys" have won, haven't they?

Why it it so easy to picture Klein and Jane Fonda in the same picture??????????

Our president has tried to make this country safe from these terrorist since 9/11. How soon some people have forgot what this country went through amazes me. There are people in this country like this Mark Klein that wants to put his policial agenda ahead of the safety of this country. I say if you are not doing anything wrong why would you worry about this. It makes me feel safer for me and for my family to know that the government is watching what these terrorist are doing. Mr. Klein does not care about our safety or our soldiers safety. What is wrong with this man! I agree totally with Mr. Dario Gonzalez which stated it so correctly.

Who can you trust these days?

This guy knew ATT was involved with secret government work and decided unilaterally to tell all. Was his motivation to protect us all? I doubt it. Maybe he grew up watching too many superhero cartoons thinking he too could save the world. More than likely he was just looking for a book deal and his 15 minutes of fame. Either way he should be prosectuted to the fullest extent of the law for revealing secrets and possessing secret material without a clearance.

Lane, it also took only 19 people to rollback over 200 years of rights. What happened to the motto, Live Free or Die? It's only valid if there is no risk of harm? What have we become in this country? Why not check in to some government controlled town and never leave? It's like people are afraid to live, afraid of their shadow? You are move likely to die driving home tonight!

I think the guy was right to let people know what was "behind that curtain."

And as others have written here, once the equipment has been built, finding out if AT&T is still gleaning from our private conversations will be as easy as finding WMDs in Iraq. Just because the law might change later after this stupid war is over, doesn't mean the equipment and actions of AT&T people in power will stop.

Don't forget that AT&T had been declared a monopoly more than 20 years ago and broken up, but look now... it's one big happy family again (as long as you say nothing about what's behind that door).

Anyone who thinks that this type of blanket surveillance is OK has a serious reading comprehension problem. I would advise all of you to re-read the Constitution of the United States of America. You may find that you are entitled to certain rights that the Bush administration has blatantly ignored. Also note, that nowhere in the document does it say "Void in times of war".

What are you guys so afraid of that you're willing to turn over all your personal information over to the government? Land of the free, home of the brave my foot. We're rapidly turning into land of the controlled and home of the manipulated.

Erm i'm from England just reading this via a link on another site and I am really really shocked at how readily most of the people posting here are happy to just lose their civil liberties. Have you learned nothing from your useless government yet? I mean our isn't much better but at least everyone here realises that. It's INSANE how many of you seem to be just regurgitating all that's been fed to you through the media and politicians. I used to love America but i really must say i've never found a country so at odds with the image it promotes. Land of the free? Or land of the watched? I never really equated freedom with the ability for someone to eavesdrop my entire life. Please get rid of your moron in power - we're trying to do the same.

25 years ago (during the Cold War) there were rumors that NSA recorded every overseas conversation. I think the big story here is to answer the question regarding how long this has been going on. Terrorism is only the latest lamest excuse. If these agencies had been doing their jobs in the first place, using Constitutional means, there would not have been a 9/11. So explain to me how giving up our liberties is preventing another one?

As one who has been in communications for over thirty years, both in and out of the military, I can assure you that domestic electronic intercepts dealing with "subversive" (defined by those in power at the time) communications has been effectively been going on since the capability existed to filter out the unwanted (private citizen) communications. Basically, this began when NSA (or was it the FBI?)bought their first Cray computer. This is continuing still today. It has also transcended presidencies from both parties. When somneone releases information they should reasonably know is classified (such as a telephone company employee telling a suspected criminal that the police have a wire tap on his phone), that violates laws. In the case of my example, it would be a local or state law. In the case of national security , it violates federal law. Whether you decide the information should be made public is not an individual's choice to make. There are procedures to challange the security classification. If you violate the law you should be held accountable. If the government is taking precautions to filter out the undesired information before it reaches humans (which they are), they have not violated your privacy. If you are contacting or contacteed by known/suspected terrorists (whether you know it or not), you can expect to have your conversation intercepted (just as you would expect if you contacted a suspected criminal and the FBI or local police had a wire tap on them). I think what most americans really object to is who has the authority to authorize the intercepts. When dealing with highly sensitive information, secrecy demands the authority be kept close hold. The NSA is the proper authority when dealing with the global war on terrorism. Whether you agree with the concept of attempting to stop terrorist attacks or not is another matter.

Its amazing what "the people" are willing to give up for sense of security. No im not moving to another country, I love my country and I love my people, my government on the other hand has some issues that need to be resolved. One if one innocent person's privacy or freedom has been violated that is enough. It would be stupid to think that the terrorists don't know they are being monitered via the internet or cellphones...

What I don't understand is...in the 90's the woods around Idaho and Arkansas were full of guys in camo, stashing weapons and following a cultish affiliation to thier fantasy that the "government" was coming with black helicopters to impose World Domination on them. Fifteen years later we are in fact much closer to that dangerous outcome, but now these same conspiracy theorists are slapping flags on their vehicles, are glued to FOX news and are the first to say that we must support our government right or wrong. Let me rephrase that; they see no evil, thier Fearless Leader is always right and the government should be allowed to do what it wants in all cases because they have our best interests in mind. Really? What has this government done for you lately? Think for yourself. Stop being so scared. Develop a little backbone and protect your rights!

Terrorism is a lame excuse for destroying personal liberties and making a mockery of the Constitution. I fought the Cold War and I guarantee you our enemies had FAR more resources at their disposal than Bin Laden and his sympathizers. Yet, somehow we came out on top without destroying our freedoms, installing a dictator, or frisking 95-year-old women at the airport in the name of "security".

If you're innocent, why do you need rights? :)

There are some scary comments posted here! Condemn the guy, prosecute him, etc. He should be given a medal for reporting this illegal activity by da gubment!! An illegal war is not cause for trampling citizens' rights. The Bush administration lost all credibility when they abandoned the war on terror to pursue Iraqi oil. It is shocking, though not surprising (because people are so stupid), that G.Dumbya still has supporters. Kudos to Klein!

I am in favor of surveillance that is monitor by both sides of the political spectrum.
Unfortunately, the current Cheney Administration* is using this surveillance to gain an information edge on their political opposition to create smog screens for the American People and continue their personal agenda.

Does anybody else think this sounds similar to the movie, "Three Days of the Condor", starring Robert Redford? The main character "had a story" and took it to the newspaper... You know the rest.
Is this something new? No, and it won't go away either.

tim - "If the government is taking precautions to filter out the undesired information before it reaches humans (which they are), they have not violated your privacy."

So Tim, if an automated machine opens all my mail, scans it, then searches it for keywords before turning it over to an NSA goon, it is not violating my privacy? If a robot comes into my home, sniffs for bombs, photographs everything, then scans it for suspicious objects before turning it over to an NSA goon, it is not violating my privacy? If we are innocent we have nothing to fear (except rendition to a country that practices torture).

When my wife calls her mother overseas and the NSA records this conversation without a warrant, or when she exchanges emails with her overseas sister and the NSA opens the email and scans it without a warrant, you can be damn sure this violates the Bill of Rights regarding unreasonable searches. The terrorists have won.

Good for Mr. Klein!! And to those who are naysayers, yes, documents like the details of the NSA rooms are left laying around, I have witnessed things such as this for over 30 years in the telecommunications industry. Bush is a bully and it is time for him to answer for his actions

It is not in the NSA's charter to operate within the borders of the United States unless authorized by the FISA court system.

The Bush administration their his pet Alberto Gonzalez decided to allow intelligence gathering without the consent of FISA, effectively removing the safe guards that protected the liberties of Americans.

I applaud the whistle blower spoke of in this story because it shines a light on the depth at which the neo-con's will go to in order to consolidate power to the executive branch.

Even with FISA it is hard to know how much abuse we have in the intel gathering system within the US. I'll take all the whistle blowers I can get.

I read your email...

Amazing. A lone individual makes a decision to stand up for the basic civil liberties of millions - and folks here want him tried, arrested, audited, drawn, quartered, and branded a traitor.

I salute Mark Klein for doing the right thing.

May the folks here never have to face the tragedy of losing the rights they are so ready to hand over...

Perhaps you folks aren't old enough to remember Shamrock or Minaret, but it bears some repeating: our track record ain't the greatest on this one.

Mark Klein should be rewarded for his bravery and patriotism for uncovering a MASSIVE illegal operation run by the government. Without whistle blowers like Mr. Klein we are doomed to an oligarchy.

All you people are "INGNORANT BUFFOONS." While our civil liberties are stealthly being taken away and slowly eroding by our criminal government, "WE" citizens of the U.S.A sit twiddling our thumbs. Someone stated we are at "WAR!" I don't remember the United States of America declaring war on anybody! Congress passed a resolution giving President Bush the authority to initiate offensive measures on terrorists. Any yet, we have not captured UBL. Is it that hard to catch one man. Why would the US government need to see what I surf on the internet?

Observer: soppose someone hates you because you are white, black, male, female, homosexual, hetrosexual, or any other silly reason. They say you did something you did not do, they say you can't vote, they say you are sub human. You are innocent, do you still think you don't need rights. Quick reminder: the U.S. Government enforced slavery.

Mr. Ross,

It's good to see you are now on the Klein story, but your piece neglects to mention that Wired News published a large chunk of Klein's documents in May 2006.

But, more onto the point. The government doesn't have the right to intrude into our personal lives in this manner. Period. It violates the Constitution. Hopefully the next president will have some respect for the foundations this country was built upon and will not trample over our basic rights.

"If the government is taking precautions to filter out the undesired information before it reaches humans (which they are), they have not violated your privacy."

What??? It is NOT the government's right to filter information to me! As an American I have the right to decipher for myself what I chose to read and then agree or disagree with.

They are talking about monitoring our conversations. If I choose to discuss the idiocy of baby bush with my mother online, keywords in the conversation are going to get flagged. Stopping me from talking about and congregating with others to talk about how stupid our current president is is my right as an American—NOT the right of selected individuals holding a government job!

These people who defend the government's illegal actions and criticize the one person who's actually trying to preserve their freedoms are more worried about losing their precious BMW's and McMansions than they are about their fundamental rights to liberty. To those people, I would ask, do you think our forefathers willingly risked their lives, their families' lives, and all that they owned in their fight for freedom only to have us turn it over so easily because we're afraid of Al Qaeda? If we weren't willing to subvert our freedoms for the Nazis and the Communists, which were much bigger threats, why we are we so willing to do so now?

Pete, you hit the nail on the head!

It's amazing how well the propaganda is working on Americans. Citizens in other countries get it. So sad to see how many of you are in favor of illegal surveillance. Go back to sleep and continue watching television! Didn't you all learn anything from history?

As long as amnesia is America's favorite pastime, you will remain brainless slaves.

Just keeping chipping away at democracy, and what are you left with?
Those surveillance tools are a wonderful thing for the spooks, they make it easier than ever to build dossiers against your political opponents. And anyone who thinks that these tools are just being used against terrorists has a screw loose. All you have to do is change your definition of terrorist. Are you against the status quo? Uh-oh, you're a potential terrorist! Remember when Ashcroft said "If you're not with us, you're against us"? That utterance speaks volumes.

The world is MUCH less safe with the Bush/Cheney dynamic duo in charge. Boy, that Iraq/Oil thing was a good idea;-)
Up next, WWIII starts in Iran.
(American nutjobs vs. Iranian nutjobs)
Haven't you heard, Iran has WMD!
Don't worry, the corporate media are on top of the story. They'll uncover the truth just like they did in Ira....oh never mind.

To all you "citizens" that see no harm in having the US intercept and monitor our privileged communications, do you have any idea what you're losing? The freedom to privacy and to be secure in our communications and property is a paramount concept guaranteed by our constitution. There are no exceptions to this, even if you have nothing to hide or don't mind.

Remember that when you give up these civil liberties, you can *never* regain them. The gov't does not willingly give back rights that it has reserved or usurped. Our society is free because of these protections, and as soon as one of them is infringed, we all suffer, and come one step closer to losing them all.

Even if you have no problem with Bush murdering our constitutional rights, remember that the political winds change frequently. As time passes, evil men can and will be elected president. It is mathematically inevitable. These evil men will think nothing of abusing you, and if the civil liberties put in place to protect you are already gone, there will be no defense left. *You* will disappear unaccounted for in secret CIA prisons, instead of terrorists. *You* will have no right to the courts to challenge your torture and detention, instead of the terrorists. *You* will have destroyed the greatest country on earth, instead of terrorists.

I agree with you Seeker. What many of these people do not understand is this system can easily be used to blackmail somebody. Lets say that some congressman or reporter or group is causing problems to the administration. All they would have to do is to order the NSA to filter and look for any information dealing with these entities and record there conversations, URL's they visited, and any sources secret phone numbers that they have called to get information. Also if we want to admit it or not, people say and do private things that they don not want other people to know about.

If anything look in your personal closet and ask yourself, are you willing to have your life an open book for anybody to see or use. Some will say they don't care, but in reality what they are saying is that nobody will find out about my secrets because it will not happen to me but to someone else.

Yea, keep Dreaming.

The Internet has *never* *NEVER* been secure. How do you think Google, Yahoo, and all the other search engines come up with all those links when you look something up? They "sniff" the data stream looking for key words. I don't see anybody complaining about that. The NSA's not doing anything different than they are.

If you're worried about you privacy, use an encryption program. Or, better yet, don't use the internet at all.

I'd be willing to bet that ABC News has a program that records the IP address of everyone that posts here. They know *where* you are, and it won't take too much effort to find out *who* you are, too.....