NSA eavesdropping wider than Bush admitted

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=6343605&cKey=1135425037000

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The volume of information gathered from telephone and Internet communications by the National Security Agency without court-approved warrants was much larger than the White House has acknowledged, The New York Times reported on Saturday.

Citing current and former government officials, the Times said the information was collected by tapping directly into some of the U.S. telecommunication system's main arteries. The officials said the NSA won the cooperation of telecommunications companies to obtain access to both domestic and international communications without first gaining warrants.

A former telecommunications technology manager told the Times that industry leaders have been storing information on calling patterns and giving it to the federal government to aid in tracking possible terrorists since the September 11 attacks.

Government and industry officials with knowledge of the program told the newspaper the NSA sought to analyse communications patterns to gather clues from details like who is calling whom, how long a phone call lasts and what time of day it is made, as well as the origins and destinations of phone calls and e-mail messages.

did he?????

this will continue. Bush or no Bush.

why would we assume that any statement dragged out of that administration would reflect anything else other than the most benign characterization of their activities?

if my emails are in their database, there are some telecommunications companies that are going to get sued. How about you folks?