Who's Watching Now?

The news today is that the White House’s domestic surveillance program is in fact much larger than first thought. It seems the government has been creating a huge database of phone records on millions and millions of Americans. These records are gathered from the various phone companies around the country, and while they don’t involve wire tapping and voice records, they do include data on who we call, when we call them, and how often we call. This project of record gathering has been going on since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Now, of course I am aware that phone companies keep records of our phone calls, just as libraries keep records of the books we borrow, video stores keep records of the films we rent, and so. But there is something vastly different when our government, the state itself, establishes a huge, permanent, and searchable database of the calls private citizens make. Why is there not a greater outcry against this system? Our fundamental rights to privacy and free speech are being violated, and we’re losing what distinguishes the American experiment. I for one am horrified.

Don’t think for a minute this blog isn’t also watched, or that someone, somewhere isn’t keeping track of the URLs and IPs you visit.