http://edition.cnn.com/2006/US/05/12/feedback.phone.records/(CNN) -- The National Security Agency has been collecting information on millions of domestic phone calls, according to a report this week in USA Today. CNN.com asked readers whether they think it is appropriate for the government to monitor telephone records. Here is a selection of the responses, some of which have been edited:
If I had to choose between a one in ten thousand chance that I or someone I love might be killed by a terrorist in any given year or living in a police state, I'd take the former. The goal of terrorism is to make us live in fear and to destroy our way of life. If we become a nation of secret laws, pervasive surveillance, and midnight justice (Guantanamo and secret prisons, anybody?), then the terrorists have *won*, even if there is never another attack on US soil.
Loren Davidson, California
I believe it is the old saying that applies to this: "If you have nothing to hide, what is the problem?" I am a Democrat, but you will rarely find me any
but middle on the spectrum. If the NSA wants to collect data about calling patterns, without monitoring them, that is fine. And if they find that there is a particular household or geographic area that is placing calls to known terrorists or less than peaceful or stable countries, they should be able to monitor those calls, with the proper authority giving them that permission. I think this is a compromise to this intelligence impasse that will please both sides. Whether I like Bush or not (Which I DO NOT, he is the silliest man I have ever seen) we are at war, and it is nice to see that we are doing something to protect ourselves on the home front, rather than only sending troops to foreign sand pits on primitive lands.
Bryan, St. Petersburg, Florida
Absolutely not. They should have to uphold the Constitution. Who is Bush to be above the law? He and the NSA should get a court order. There is no privacy with him in office. Shame on the Congress and Senate.
Peggy, Haworth, New Jersey