Last week, through a British newspaper, we learned [1] that the Department of Homeland Security was using a rather expansive list of keywords to track potential threats across social media sites. This week, from another British newspaper, we see that the NSA has dragooned Verizon [2]into providing its customers’ phone records to the feds.
Little of this behavior is new. The Bush administration collected phone records — and even listened in on some calls, without warrants. The Obama administration is taking matters to new heights. But remember: all of this snooping, prying and spying finds its roots in the Patriot Act and neither political party has clean hands.
To put it in perspective, Mrs. Leahy told me that when she visited the Soviet Union, the joke was to wave at the light fixtures in your hotel room and send greetings to the people manning the listening devices.
Thing is, everybody in the old USSR (tourists included) knew they were being bugged. We in the USA have to learn about our government eavesdroppers through British tabloids.