Big Brother is not only watching, but taking names. USA Today breaks the story.

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.

The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans ˜ most of whom aren’t suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.

Questions and Answers: The NSA record collection program

“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.

For the customers of these companies, it means that the government has detailed records of calls they made across town or across the country - to family members, co-workers, business contacts and others.

But of course, all of this is only ‘theoretical’ according to Attorney General Gonzales.

“Only international communications are authorized for interception under this program. That is, communications between a foreign country and this country. …

“To protect the privacy of Americans still further, the NSA employs safeguards to minimize the unnecessary collection and dissemination of information about U.S. persons.”

- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Feb. 6, 2006

Liar.

Read The Full Article Here

Deanne Stillman has some interesting analysis here on why phone rates have been dropping so fast in most places as of late, and what ties that could possibly have in relation to the phone companies and their cooperation with our domestic Bushevik KGB surveillance operation on Americans.

I’ve wondered for months why the major phone carriers keep lowering their rates. Why did AT&T just mount a full-court press for new customers, offering what amounts to nearly free service? Hold your powder, econ trolls — I get the market forces argument. But now comes news that Verizon, Pac Bell, and AT&T have been handing over customer files by the millions to the NSA.

Are they being paid a bounty on the taxpayer’s dime? Are there escalating fees for every additional 10,000 phone numbers? How about new phone numbers? Maybe they’re getting some sort of government bonus.

Read her article on The Huffington Post