Ben Buckman.net

Watch this video. The NSA systematically spied on whole news organizations and tens or hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens' calls, credit card records, etc without any warrrants.

Don't kid yourself and think this is harmless and necessary counter-terrorism a la 24: law enforcement, defense, and intel agencies are now required by law to cooperate and share information. The program likely originates from DARPA's Total Informatation Awareness initiative (an Orwellian title if there ever was one). At least one reporter, Lawrence Wright, was asked by the FBI about calls he made that they had no warrant to know about. It's a small leap from there to this data being used for all kinds of illicit purposes. We have due process, the 4th Amendment, and other basic privacy rights for reasons, which we shouldn't forget.

(h/t: Alex)