Do I Fear Bush Knowing On Who I Call?

J.J. Jackson* | May 12, 2006

No, not really. Not President Bush at least. Mostly because I have absolutely nothing to hide. Now, the liberals and the bureaucrats are a whole different story. Through out history left winger and “moderates” who are nothing more than non-committal left wingers have show a propensity to do very bad things with large amounts of seemingly harmless data.

But the correct question to ask is do I have a problem with phone records (which are by law public although I don’t think they should be) collected in a massive data mining operation? Yes and no.

The answer is it depends. What don’t I have a problem with?

1) If someone contacts a phone number of a someone else who is a terrorist, is reasonably suspected of being a terrorist or with ties to terrorists, then by all means search their phone records and listen to their calls.
2) If someone that is a terrorist, is reasonably suspected of being a terrorist or with ties to terrorists contacts someone here in the United States then by all means, search their phone records and listen to their calls.
3) Someone uses a knowingly stolen phone to contact anyone else, by all means look at their records and listen to their calls even if they aren’t calling terrorists because they are in the process of committing a crime.

I think that in any of the above circumstances we have reasonable cause to do so.

What do I have a problem with?

1) Collecting phone call data (numbers, recordings, records, etc) from all Americans or at least doing it indiscriminately and then mining it.
2) Monitoring the phone calls of Americans that are not suspected in any crime.

I think that in those circumstances all we are doing is nothing of importance and nothing ultimately good.

The major problem in America is that phone call records (i.e. who you call, when you call and for how long you call) is public information. Which seems a bit silly to me. The conversation cannot be recorded without a warrant but almost all the other information can. To me it seems like the call is either private (my opinion unless you are committing a crime) or not. But the government wants to have it both ways.

Do I fear President Bush listening to what I say and knowing who I call? No. Do I fear the next liberal who gets control of the Presidency and millions of left wing bureaucrats doing the same? You bet I do.

The Constitution in Exile : How the Federal Government Has Seized Power by Rewriting the Supreme Law of the Land

(Book)

Authors:Andrew P. Napolitano
Manufacturer:Nelson Current
Released:18 April, 2006

Constitutional Chaos : What Happens When the Government Breaks Its Own Laws

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Authors:Andrew P. Napolitano
Manufacturer:Nelson Current
Released:11 November, 2004

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