Data Mining Our Liberties
By Aziz Huq, The Nation
After enduring weeks of blistering criticism for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’s inartful elisions about the National Security Agency (NSA) spying activities, the Bush Administration has successfully forced on Congress a law that largely authorizes open-ended surveillance of Americans’ overseas phone calls and e-mails. How did they do it?
The Protect America Act of 2007–the title alone ought to be warning that unsavory motives are at work–is the most recent example of the national security waltz, a three-step Administration maneuver for taking defeat and turning it into victory.
(Original Article)