Eavesdropping Technicalities
Following up on the warrantless wiretapping issue, it seems like more details are starting to circulate. I think maybe warrantless surveillance might be a more accurate description, since more than wiretapping seems to be in play. Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo and emptywheel at Next Hurrah both have posts up trying to fill in some of the information that suggests that the government was trying to use new technologies to cast a wider net. The letter that Jay Rockefeller wrote to Dick Cheney, complaining that he could not get technical assistance from his staff to understand the scope of what was going on, also points in this direction.
Now, maybe this is the reason why FISA wasn’t sufficient. It’d be nice if someone in the Bush Administration would say so if that’s the case. But it seems to me that the issue of when and how to use new technology to observe people’s activity is precisely one that should be subject to some public deliberation by all of our leaders.
About Dave Thomer
Born and raised in Philadelphia. Studied philosophy at Fordham University in the Bronx, where I made many great friends and met my wonderful wife. We moved back to Philadelphia, where I studied philosophy some more and became a teacher. Online and off, I'm looking for ways that we can be better citizens and build stronger communities.