Three Cheers for Qwest!

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All of the major telecom companies including ATT, Verizon, BellSouth-- gave your phone records to be part of a government spy database.

One company stood up for the privacy of their customers and had the guts to say "No" to the NSA.

It is not often that I will praise a corporation, but in my opinion this is truly worthy of praise (and my business).

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This also shows that compliance with this program was not compulsory in any fashion. USA Today reported that the NSA lawyers were afraid to take this case to court, because they knew it wouldn't hold up; and yet the other Telco companies complied anyways, in direct contradiction of the contracts that they had signed with their customers.

Were they bought off? There has been quite a bit of relaxation of Telco monopoly regulation in the last 5-7 years. A link? We will see.

One thing is sure; the more that we are 'reassured' that the spying programs don't go any deeper than they say, the more the public should realize that they are being lied to.

Cycloptichorn

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Get a life! Do you buy anything? Credit companies and other companies have more information on you than you can imagine, including buying habits, etc, etc, etc, etc,........... How much does the government know about everybody in regard to everything? Plenty. Tax records, medical information, etc, etc, etc, ..............

Besides, when did this program start? Maybe it isn't the evil Bush that is sitting in his office dreaming up these evil plots?

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The credit agencies don't have info on me, because I don't use credit. At all.

Your defense seems to consist of:

First, there's a lot of information floating around out there, so what do you care if the government is illegally tapping your phones? What do you care if this violates the contract a Corporation signs with their clients? Get a life!

Second, maybe Bush didn't start this program, so you can't blame him for continuing it. We don't know whether he did or not, but maybe he didn't, so you can't blame him. Get a life!

To which my response would be:

Sorry, try again. This is wrong even if there is a lot of info floating around out there about people. This is wrong even if somene else started the program.

Cycloptichorn

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Anyone who thinks this is as trivial as buying habits info being passed on, should think twice next time they are making an intimately private phone call that they would prefer no-one else to know about.

What would an NSA agent do with this information?

Think of the possibilities.

The first thing I'd do, if I had the necessary "qualities" to be working for the NSA, would be to pull the numbers of as many high profile and influential people as I could, and see who they've been phoning.

Political info could be gained, so could personal intimate info.

Possible NSA chain of thought.....

"Why is Senator so and so phoning the gayboys leather fetish shop twice a week?"
I have an idea....... he can be very useful for inside information in the future....let's go talk to him, and if he doesn't comply, let's go talk to his wife"

This idea of phone records being passed on (without warrant, I assume?) is truly sinister.

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From the USA Today article:

Quote:

The NSA told Qwest that other government agencies, including the FBI, CIA and DEA, also might have access to the database, the sources said.

There is no telling what information has been gathered, on whom, and what it was used for. There is no oversight. This comes down to the 'trust me' model of government, and that is downright UnAmerican.

Cycloptichorn

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okie wrote:

Get a life! Do you buy anything? Credit companies and other companies have more information on you than you can imagine, including buying habits, etc, etc, etc, etc,........... How much does the government know about everybody in regard to everything? Plenty. Tax records, medical information, etc, etc, etc, ..............

Besides, when did this program start? Maybe it isn't the evil Bush that is sitting in his office dreaming up these evil plots?

Okie,

It is my government.

I expect my government (i.e. the one who depends on my taxes for its very existance) to work for me. This means it should treat my personal privacy with respect. If I don't want my personal information stored in a searchable database, my government should respect this.

Likewise I expect my phone company (i.e. the one who depends on my money for its very existance) to work for me. This means it should treat my personal privacy with respect. If I don't want my personal infomation stored in a searchable database, my phone company should respect this.

Fortunately, if my phone company pisses me off (by sending my personal information to a goverment spy agency to be in a searchable database) I can do something about it. I simply send my business elsewhere.

I hope that we can do something similar with the current administration.

But neither my government nor my phone company should forget that they are serving me and can be changed at my pleasure.

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I would think that okie and ican and others must get a lot of headaches from the stuff going on inside their skulls.

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sumac wrote:

I would think that okie and ican and others must get a lot of headaches from the stuff going on inside their skulls.

At least its not paranoia.

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As of 4:30 pm at least, the White House is not confirming that the data collection is widespread. Meanwhile, and predictably, Congress demands answers.

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Quote:

The NSA's domestic program began soon after the Sept. 11 attacks, according to the sources. Right around that time, they said, NSA representatives approached the nation's biggest telecommunications companies. The agency made an urgent pitch: National security is at risk, and we need your help to protect the country from attacks.

The agency told the companies that it wanted them to turn over their "call-detail records," a complete listing of the calling histories of their millions of customers. In addition, the NSA wanted the carriers to provide updates, which would enable the agency to keep tabs on the nation's calling habits.

The sources said the NSA made clear that it was willing to pay for the cooperation. AT&T, which at the time was headed by C. Michael Armstrong, agreed to help the NSA. So did BellSouth, headed by F. Duane Ackerman; SBC, headed by Ed Whitacre; and Verizon, headed by Ivan Seidenberg.

With that, the NSA's domestic program began in earnest.

USA Today Article

And, it sounds like they had all this set up with the phone companies faster than they could get people out of the Superdome. Interesting.

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I would like to observe that E_brown has made a good point about to whom one gives their telephone business. Obviously, the "Bush can do no wrong" crowd will want to sign up with the poodles who rolled over and whimpered for the NSA. I think E_brown has a good point for all others to consider--that perhaps they ought to be doing business with Qwest.

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Cycloptichorn wrote:

Were they bought off? There has been quite a bit of relaxation of Telco monopoly regulation in the last 5-7 years. A link? We will see.

??? The last Federal legislation dealing with any deregulation of the Telco industry was the Federal Telecom Act of 1996.

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Setanta wrote:

I would like to observe that E_brown has made a good point about to whom one gives their telephone business. Obviously, the "Bush can do no wrong" crowd will want to sign up with the poodles who rolled over and whimpered for the NSA. I think E_brown has a good point for all others to consider--that perhaps they ought to be doing business with Qwest.

true enough. If someone is within Qwest's service areas they should let their money speak for them.

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It will be interesting to learn down the road if this results in an increase in business for Qwest.

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Just for informational purposes for those who might consider changing their service to Qwest - you'd need to change both your local and long distance service to be protected by their withholding of info. Changing only your long distance service won't offer any protection because all of your long distance dialing still goes through your local carrier who (if it's one of the major providers) is still reporting the digits dialed to the NSA.

Changing for the political effect and letting your current long distance carrier know why you are changing may still have some effect though!

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Some of you here have selective amnesia along with your paranoia. Furthermore, at least Bush doesn't throw you in concentration camps like FDR did.

http://americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=5150

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Franklin Roosevelt was dead before i was born. What particular relevance do you claim this has to the decisions people make today? This looks very much like another case of "Oh yeah, well look what this guy did ? ! ? ! ?"

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Setanta wrote:

Franklin Roosevelt was dead before i was born.

Oh, sorry, I guess that explains it all.

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What it explains is that the historical context you're attempting to foist onto this topic is meaningless. We cannot do anything about FDR's actions and policies. We can respond to current circumstances. Only a jackass would contend that any crimes alleged by FDR impinges upon the bahavior of the NSA today, and the telecom companies who truckled to that organization.

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Three Cheers for Qwest!

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