wire taps confirm Americans support Patriot Act

[gunsmith]

 

[Desertdog]

From the way I understand it, the NSA people were not "wire tapping." They were listening to electronic transmissions, not tapping into somebody's phone line, as it was reported by 99% of the Dems and news media.

With the disclosure by the NY Times, the BGs probably will now change to hard lines where GGs will have to tap in.

I do hope sombody will go to jail over disclosing national security secrets.

 

[mountainclmbr]

From what I understand this is intercepts between known AQ members and anyone else, even if in the USA. What I think is "I REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHAT AQ IS SAYING, ESPECIALLY IF IN THE USA". The dimocrats who, for the most part, hate freedom and the US Constitution, will side with AQ. The enemy of my enemy is my friend (to them). They think they are intilectually elite, but the are really soooo stuuuuuppppiiiiddd. Just look at the tyranny they are signing up their children to receive.

 

[scubie02]

intellectually

 

[GigaBuist]

From the way I understand it, the NSA people were not "wire tapping." They were listening to electronic transmissions, not tapping into somebody's phone line, as it was reported by 99% of the Dems and news media.

Well, in the old days a "wire tap" meant physically plugging into a telephone wire. It's a fairly simple operation. Any yahoo with a pocket knife and a phone handset can do it, provided they tap your physical line.

In today's world, especially when only intercepting international calls, it's far easier to just "tap" the switching station that handles international calls and filter out the data that you want. Rather than tap al-Terrorists individual phone you just tap the trunk and filter out the people that you want. A few keyboard clicks and you're good to go, to put it in over simplified terms.

The setup cost is higher, but the on-demand implementation is much quicker. That's pretty much why we have the NSA.

With the disclosure by the NY Times, the BGs probably will now change to hard lines where GGs will have to tap in.

It won't make a difference if the BGs change methods of phone communication. Those copper wires going into your phone go over copper (most likely) to the local phone company which many or many not be using fiber to get it to an international switching station. The international calls may be routed over a satellite, they may be routed over fiber optics in the ocean, or it might go over plain old copper wiring. It doesn't make any lick of difference if you're using a cell phone or a land line phone, truth be told.

There's a limited number of ways to get out of the US, communications wise. The NSA, apparently, has them all covered. THey have for a LONG time.

I do hope sombody will go to jail over disclosing national security secrets.

The United States has had laws on the books for something like 28 years now which authorize IMMEDIATE wiretaps without judicial approval provided that the agency tapping them notifies the FISA judges of their tap within 72 hours.

The "leak" is that it's being done without judicial review, that's all. Unless al-Q bought every member of the FISA court they had to have known they were possibly being tapped previous to this story.

 

[Flyboy]

The enemy of my enemy is my friend (to them).

Hey, isn't that how Saddam came to power in the first place?

I'm just askin.'

 

[Ian]

No, Flyboy, you're mistaken. Eurasia has always been at war with Oceania. Don't you pay attention to the Ministry of Truth?

 

[ReadyontheRight]

The police arrest you, but forget to read you your Miranda Rights. You go to court and get off.

The NSA wiretaps you but fails to get a warrant. You go to court and get off.

If a member of Al-Queda calls you - or you call their number accidently while ordering a pizza - the NSA might listen in to your phone calls (or, more accurately, dig through your phone records).

They find you only had one call involving a known terrorist and have no interest in you. Why should they bother with a warrant if they have no interest in prosecuting you?

 

[stevelyn]

Why should they bother with a warrant if they have no interest in prosecuting you?

So it's okay to go fishing for information, then apply for the warrant after the fact?