About a fifth of Americans think federal agents have listened in on their phone calls, a CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll released Tuesday suggests.
Twenty-one percent of the 1,000 adults who replied to the survey conducted Thursday through Sunday said it was very likely or somewhat likely their conversations had been wiretapped, while 52 percent said it was not at all likely.
Twenty-four percent said it was not too likely.
The sampling error for the question was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
I wonder what the percentage would be for visitors to this site?
I don’t know if they are, but if they are, I am sure I have killed some agents since what i talk about on the phone is soooo boring. I would guess they are not.
Mark me down for the ‘not at all likely’ catagory…unless they’ve heard about my money-printing machine, that is.
I guess that would mean that 1/5 of Americans are talking to terrorists. Again the media has reported wire tapping, but says nothing about that they are only tapping calls that are either coming in from outside or leaving the country, and then only to suspected terrorists at that. That means that the call that you made to your grandmother down the street was not listened to by the government. I understand the fine line between protection and freedom but again lets tell it like it is. Most people only get there news from CNN, ABC and the like. I guess if that were the case for me I would terrified that Bush himself is listening to every call I make! Lets get real folks!
Anyone remember Total Information Awareness? You think these same people wouldn’t want the NSA to filter/process all calls if/when it’s possible? Whether or not this is happening or not I do not know but will they if you let them? Yes indeed, my friend. If you don’t believe this then I suggest you reaxamine your beliefs.
It is also interesting to ponder why Bush would circumvent the FISA court when he could have gone along with it. Either he wants to set a precedent for greater executive power or he knows that what he’s ordering the NSA to listen to wouldn’t pass muster with that court. Possibly both are true.
Maybe our country needs this sort of surveillence as an uncertain future approaches but if we want to maintain our democracy then these issues are going to have to be dealt with in a public forum by all of our representatives and not by just the darkest corners of the executive branch.
Personally, I’d rather die a free man in a terrorist attack than give up my freedom for the promise of security. I say the “promise” of security since there is no security without real freedom and real freedom does not exist unless the population is educated and informed.
Will
here’s how I get around the govt. listening in to my calls…
First, I call my mother in Clearfield, Utah, just outside of Hill AFB, then I have her connect me to a base operator via conference call…I have the base operator transfer me to my terrorist friends in Gopickastan. The govt. won’t listen in on their own calls, and since the number that phoned the base isn’t mine…they can’t trace it back. 🙂
If my phone isn’t wiretapped then putting “Bush Sucks” 5,000 time as a metatag isn’t working
They are listening to all of my calls, along with the aliens in the UFO hovering outside…
This article appears appropriate to the conversation at hand:
http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060214-053955-9494r
Here’s a teaser:
Whistleblower says NSA violations bigger
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (UPI) — A former NSA employee said Tuesday there is another ongoing top-secret surveillance program that might have violated millions of Americans’ Constitutional rights.
Will
I think they are, to an extent. Of course they are. If they have the power, they have the will.
Wiretap, smiertap. It’s not logical that they are actually listening in. Data mining for specific words and phrases sounds more like it. At least that is what I understood the Total Information Awareness crap to be about. Sure there was screaming and a general retreat on it but does anyone really think that it didn’t get done? Does anyone think that the wiretapping that is being done supposedly only on ‘terrorists’ is really what’s happening? How in the heck do they know who the ‘terrorists’ are and if they know who they are why haven’t they captured or blown them up? Yup, I’m totally confident the administration is only wiretapping actual terrorists they can’t find and the americans who they are talking to. Righhhhttt.
If I am using VOIP, a cordless phone, or a cell phone it is more likely I will be listened in on as an average citizen whether by the government or someone else. Now if I start saying certain words on the above phones then my landline phone will definetely be wiretapped.
What I don’t understand is the people in the US are upset that the government may be listening into their international calls but no one has thought about the government on the other end listening in on the same calls.
It shows that there is a lot of paranoia out there. I think though, that only the Democrats are being tapped.
I hope my tax dollars are used to invade my privacy because im afraid.
Anyone familiar with U.S. History (research Tuskegee + Syphilis or MKULTRA) should be concerned with government excesses when there is a lack of oversight.
Look for .edu extensions (add site:.edu to your google search) to avoid sensational or conspiratorial crap.
http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/library/historical/medical_history/bad_blood/
A good place to look is GWU’s National Security Archive:
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/search.html
It’s important to remember that governments have traditionally acted poorly in preserving the basic rights of their populations especially when fear runs high (McCarthyism and the Red Scare for example).
As a population we must be vigilant and guard against overreaching by the powerful governments we employ to protect ourselves. To think “it can’t happen here” or “it can’t happen to me” is just wishful thinking and complacency talking. History teaches a very different lesson. Our founding fathers certainly had to take action to defend their freedom against oppressive government thus the lesson of American patriotism is to guard against governmental abuse and not to wrap oneself in the flag and serve the interests of nationalism or ideology blindly. This may be what patriotism means elsewhere but not here.
Will
Re: Rob’s comment….the basic flaw in your logic is that your whole argument is predicated upon the belief that the government is actually doing what it says.
>>they are only tapping calls that are either coming in from outside or
>>leaving the country, and then only to suspected terrorists at that.
Gee. Sounds like calls “to suspected terrorists” should be pretty easy to get a warrant for, hm?
Will,
I’m curious, do you fully support 2nd Amendment rights too?
I do indeed. I don’t do much hunting (I live in a city) but we have a good in-door range downtown.
Will