Wednesday, January 20, 2010

FBI Needed but a Whim to Spy on Citizens


Senator Obama's support for telecom immunity covered phone company backsides. WaPo reported on how little regard telecoms and the FBI had for citizen's privacy rights:

FBI agents seeking telephone records demanded information from phone companies in a variety of "startling" and illicit methods, including e-mail and post-it notes, in an "egregious breakdown" of safeguards and oversight.

The Bush "Just Us" Department found no problems with these methods. Orders to spy came from the top down. They did what they wanted from 2002 to 2006.

Will citizens be informed if their information was scoured? Will the paltry rationale be shared? That's the least a democratic government could do. Instead the Obama administration provided retroactive immunity. Now Change Means "No Change from Bush"