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05/12/2006 Archived Entry: "Impact of NSA spying on telephone users larger than you think"

IT'S WORSE THAN YOU THINK

Raving Reporter Thunder here.

I hate to rub salt in one's wounds about this whole NSA spying deal, but this is important and needs to be pointed out.

It doesn't matter if you switch to some provider other than those three phone companies that gave your info up so easily. If you'll notice, the USA Today article states that the NSA was given customer's call records, NOT their billing records.

What this means is if you've made a phone call to anyone that uses Verizon, BellSouth, or AT&T, or if someone on those networks called you, your phone is now on the NSA's list.

Now, if you'd like to switch to a different provider due to their stance on this issue (I hear many have already and many more are planning to), please feel free to do so. In fact, I encourage you to do so. Voting with your wallet is a great tool for getting things done. However, do not mistakenly believe that it will protect your privacy one iota. It won't.

By the way, in case anyone is interested in my credibility on this subject, I'm a telephone switch technician by trade. I work on that big box that gives you dial tone and generates those very call records.

Thankfully, I don't work for any of those big companies. My company issued a statement today that they will not give call records out without a warrant. Unfortunately, I don't think it was due to any principled stance, but merely intended to hurt our competitors a little bit more.

Posted by Thunder @ 11:03 PM CST
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