What I read in USA Today today (lol) is nothing short of truly, truly
frightening:

“The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY…It’s the largest database ever assembled in the world,” said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA’s activities, declined to be identified by name or affiliation. The agency’s goal is “to create a database of every call ever made” within the nation’s borders, this person added.”

Every phone call. Despite the repeated claims made by the administration that the “warrantless surveillance program authorized by President Bush … is carefully targeted to include only international calls and e-mails into or out of the USA, and only those that involve at least one party suspected of being a member or ally of al-Qaeda or a related terror group”

This certainly seems like it runs counter to that proposal. But, one major phone service provider has declined to participate in this program, namely Qwest – who
reportedly feels uneasy about the legal implications of handing over all sorts of their customer’s data to the government, which is a violation of the communications act of 1934.

Uneasy? Gee, you think so? The strongarming is almost hollywood-esque, you couldn’t script it any better: “NSA representatives pointedly told Qwest that it was the lone holdout among the big telecommunications companies…In one meeting, an NSA representative suggested that Qwest’s refusal to contribute to the database could compromise national security…”

Well, I don’t know about you, but I can sleep better now.

H/T USA Today and Drew & Mike on 101.1FM in Detroit