Future Cooperation By The Telecoms - FISA

[ThomWV]

Bush keeps attempting to make a point that future cooperation between the telecoms and the Government is essential for the security of the country and that if immunity for past acts is not granted the Telecoms will deny the Government that much needed access.

Let me tell you what its really all about.

George would love for you to picture this version. Don't

You and I might imagine a day when the Government, hot on the heels of an evil-doer, rush to the phone companies with an immediate request to tap. The bomb is ticking, minutes to go, gotta get that last scrap of information before the mushroom cloud burns its way into the sky, no time for a warrant. The company, still shaken by the denial of immunity by the Democratic Congress, refuses to let the Government tap in. The result? Predictable, Oklahoma City turned to glass.

This is the real matter. Over time communications companies upgrade equipment, build new facilities, and change to new technologies. The cooperation Bush wants is for the NSA to work hand-in-hand with the Telecoms in the development and design of all that is new so that the Government can simply plug in to a waiting portal that they helped design - so that spying and normal communications can become indistinguishable from one another. That is the goal here, total cooperation into the infinite future with the Government becoming an interwoven part of every communication. That is what Bush means when he refers to future cooperation. Of course no warrant could be required, this isn't about spying on an individual or even a class of individuals, this is about continuous spying on the entire nation. That is the version that Bush never wants you to envision.

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[BadgerKid]

1. Sounds like wiretaps taken to a new level

The FBI has had internet wiretaps for several years ( http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6154457.html ) but listening generally required a court order. (Universities were among the specific institutions targeted.) Take away the court order and add the fact that telephone traffic is generally transmitted via the internet, voila, you have all electronic communications monitored.

Without court oversight, what's to say that the tap isn't being used to monitor internal communications of private companies? You know, companies that, for example, might be the target of a takeover by a conglomerate or investment group (suggested name withheld). It would be insider information gleaned from the outside.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

2. nice theory but here's the problem with it...

"the NSA to work hand-in-hand with the Telecoms in the development and design of all that is new so that the Government can simply plug in to a waiting portal that they helped design - so that spying and normal communications can become indistinguishable from one another."

Not only the NSA but also multiple and diverse policing organizations have had this capability for a long time. I suspect that the NSA has refined the capability to unimaginable proportions, by this time.