Finally back to blogging after a while away from the internet, I seem to keep stumbling onto interesting stuff. An article posted at tech website Ars Technica: "The new technology at the root of the NSA wiretap scandal" speculates about just what sort of surveillance techniques and technology has been used. The author postulates that international calls from Americans are being recorded to be used at a later date. The system may track who is called and be able to link you to the people that you know and the people that they know etc. I probably cannot adequately describe the excellent points that this guy makes in his article. He calls himself a conservative, but in the "knee-jerk anti-government" sort of way. If you have a few minutes and are interested in the Bush administration spying on you, it is worth your read. I can't help but wonder if somewhere out there, an agent that knows the name of every person I have ever slept with. (Gee, I'd sure like to see the list.)

DefenseTech, normally a website I don't like because it hypes up "cool" weapons that are used to kill or incapacitate people, also has a good article titled Bastard Children of "TIA" on this issue which dates back to February of 2004 and a more current one titled New tech Behind NSA Snoop Case. There is also an intriguing read about the reactions of some people in the "intelligence community" called Wiretap Mystery: Spooks React.

See also: ECHELON at Wikipedia