Remember When Telephone Records Were Considered Private?

[BurtWorm]

From the Talent Show, a reminder that in February, even House Repubs (actually, *especially* House Repubs), were solidly opposed to government intrusion into private phone records:

http://www.thetalentshow.org/archives/002447.html

Stuck in a hotel in Seattle on a business trip (which explains the lack of blogging) and I'm watching the C-Span's rerun of Senate hearings mentioning the latest bit of extra-constitutional shenanigans by the current squatters in the executive branch. The battle lines seem to be predictably drawn along party lines (at least from the parts I've seen), with the Democrats taking the "separation of powers keep America from sliding into despotism" position and Republicans taking the " don't mention anything, lest the terrorists find out that we're pissed about 9/11" position. Unfortunately for the almighty Bush and his fellow patriots, those bastards at USA Today couldn't resist tipping off the terrorists about the NSA's attempt to gather data about every call made within our country. So there's a helpful hint, Mr. Bin Laden. Never, ever use a telephone in the United States.

But what's especially odd is that the President-fellating caucus were concerned that Americans might draw a parallel between this scandal and the NSA's warrantless wiretap program. I suppose one might see a common thread between two programs that pry into the communications of the American people without any judicial or legislative oversight, but collecting information about telephone calls isn't the same as listening to the contents of those calls. One Senator went as far as insisting that that telephone records aren't private information, which seems sorta odd considering some recent Congressional action :

In a unanimous vote Tuesday the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 4709, the Law Enforcement and Phone Privacy Protection Act of 2006.

The bill introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, back in February 2006 would amend Title 18 to provide criminal penalties for fraudulent sale or solicitation of unauthorized disclosure of phone records.

The bipartisan legislation was approved by a vote of 409-0.

'Few things are more personal and potentially more revealing than our phone records,' Smith said in a statement. 'A careful study of these records may reveal details of our medical or financial life. It may even disclose our physical location and occupation -- a serious concern for undercover police officers and victims of stalking or domestic violence.'

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[BurtWorm]

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[BurtWorm]

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