So, after the big blowup over international calls being intercepted by the NSA without a warrant, there’s now word that due to a convenient “technical glitch,” the NSA happened to intercept a number of purely domestic phone calls as well. Whoops.
The officials say the National Security Agency’s interception of a few communications between people within the United States was apparently accidental, and was caused by technical glitches at the National Security Agency in determining whether a communication was in fact international.
Telecommunications experts say the issue points up troubling logistical questions about the program. At a time when communications networks are increasingly globalized, it is sometimes difficult even for the NSA to determine whether someone is inside or outside the United States when making a cell phone call or sending an e-mail. As a result, people that NSA may think are outside the United States can actually be on U.S. soil.
I don’t buy this explanation. It seems to me that it’s very easy to determine whether a call is domestic or international, based solely on what number was dialed. Any dialing sequence from a US location that begins with ‘011’ or ‘+’ is a pretty obvious indicator that an international call is about to take place, don’t you think? And wireless companies could very easily determine whether a call is staying in the US, or whether the recipient is globally roaming. Besides, it is generally the policy of most wireless carries to disable international calls and global roaming unless a customer specifically requests it.
But then, why is all this blowing up now? Have we already forgotten about the NSA’s alleged Echelon project?
I also love Bush’s feeble attempt to resurrect the old and feeble “if you [don’t] do x, then the terrorists win” argument. Because if we talk about how the Bush administration is openly violating the law, then the terrorists win. Lovely.