NID Admits ATT/Verizon Help With Wiretaps

Unlikely_Hero writes "National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell has confirmed in an interview with the El Paso Times that AT&T and Verizon have both been helping the Bush Administration conduct wiretaps. He also claims that only 100 Americans are under surveilance, that it takes 200 hours to assemble a FISA warrant on a telephone number and suggests that companies like AT&T and Verizon that "cooperate" with the Administration should be granted immunity from the lawsuits they currently face regarding the issue."

Lawsuits? Aren't they forgetting...

[IndustrialComplex]

We don't care. We don't have to. We're the Phone Company.

Re:Unless

[monk.e.boy]

Hey, fed up with [windows|USA] why not try [Linux|UK]?

...and I bet this is never nodded funny by the Americans ;-P

Re:Unless

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm just so sick of it.

And I'm going to sit here on my ass and whine to Slashdot until things improve!

Re:Unless

[Beyond_GoodandEvil]

Oh you poor misguided canuck, I do believe you'll be singing a different tune when the Russians come for the oil buried under the artic. Yes, the parent poster was using the American definition of liberal, as in cares too much about what a bunch of european snobs(who care so much about carbon emissions, then use a fleet of private planes to fly to a mountain top retreat to hold a summit) think. Don't get me wrong the other party in the US is no picnic either, they've got God on their side.

Re:Unless

[Anonymous Coward]

"We don't like you up here in Canada either."

Um, so? That's like saying "we here in Yemen don't like you", you're insignificant, and hate that we're not.

Get back to me when your pissant of a country matters.

At least with global warming you have the possibility that your country won't be a frozen wasteland. And you'll have the US to thank for that.

Wait, there's an NID?

[Mercano]

Wait, there's really an NID? I thought it was just something they made up for Stargate and staffed with former Star Trek cast members.

Re:Unless

[gclef]

Fortunately, even we Americans eventually wise-up.

In other words, Churchill was right:

You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else.

Sloppy Mistake or Sly Lie

[toddhisattva]

From the article,

McConnell also revealed that fewer than 100 people inside the United States are monitored under FISA warrants.

From the submission,

He also claims that only 100 Americans are under surveilance

The submitter assumed, or purposely misinterpreted, "100 people inside the United States" to mean "100 Americans." The first is a sloppy mistake, the second is a deliberate lie.

There are many people inside the United States who are not Americans. The communications laws (IIRC from my work and play in the industry) use the broadly expansive category "US persons" which means anybody physically in the country.

There are green card holders and other legitimate workers, resident aliens of all kinds, and illegal aliens, just to name a few.

Other non-American inside the USA include students, tourists, and Democrats.

Re:Unless

[smilindog2000]

Yeah, we're kinda like one giant Microsoft Corporation :-)