NSA Domestic Spying

Thanks to Crooks And Liars, I've learned about the NSA domestic spying program and the ACLU's actions:

The American Civil Liberties Union responded today to a stunning new report that the NSA has effectively revived the Orwellian "Total Information Awareness" domestic-spying program that was banned by Congress in 2003. In response, the ACLU said that it was filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for more information about the spying. And, the group announced that it was moving its "Surveillance Clock" one minute closer to midnight.

"Congress shut down TIA because it represented a massive and unjustified governmental intrusion into the personal lives of Americans," said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the Washington Legislative Office of the ACLU. "Now we find out that the security agencies are pushing ahead with the program anyway, despite that clear congressional prohibition. The program described by current and former intelligence officials in Monday's Wall Street Journal could be modeled on Orwell’s Big Brother."

The ACLU said the new report confirmed its past warnings that the NSA was engaging in extremely broad-based data mining that was violating the privacy of vast numbers of Americans.

I also learned from GetRichSlick that Elliot Spitzer was caught because he made bank transfers in excess of $5000:

... banks have gotten into the habit of simply filing reports on any transaction over $5000 or less in some instances. So essentially, we now live in a society of blanket dragnets where your phone calls are eavesdropped on to ensure you’re not a terrorist, you’re bank transactions are reported to the government to ensure you’re not a criminal and the mortgage industry is nationalized to keep the system going.

As a liberal, I've never trusted the government (or any corporation either). Big Brother has always been a background fear. Now, because of 9/11 fear-mongering, it's no longer just a background fear.

Has anyone requested their FBI file? I wonder if simply requesting it triggers some surveillance escalation because, after all, only people having something to hide would be interested in knowing what the government has collected. Heh, that's some pretty deep paranoia, eh?

A long time ago, I dated an older woman who, at one time, was involved with this older guy who was politically active in the early 70's. He and his buddies had requested their files. Apparently they found it amusing to see how much effort the government expended to track their activities. Also by comparing the individual reports and by dredging their memories, they figured out that one of their group was a snitch. Every time this person was referenced, a censor had blackened out the name. So by process of elimination they determined who it was.