'Millions' of al-Qaeda and affiliates in U.S. shock
A United States intelligence agency has been collecting data on the phone calls of tens of millions of Americans, a report in USA Today has alleged.
The country's three biggest phone companies have been handing over call records to the National Security Agency (NSA) since 2001, the newspaper says.
President Bush refused to confirm or deny the existence of the programme.
He said he had authorised intelligence gathering in the wake of 9/11, adding that the activities were "lawful".
"Our intelligence activities strictly target al-Qaeda and their known affiliates," he said in a brief White House statement after the newspaper report appeared.
"The privacy of ordinary Americans is fiercely protected," he said, adding: "We are not mining or trolling [sic] through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans." Read more
db: What's all the fuss? Its just a few million calls being 'trolled' - if you got nothing to hide you got nothing to worry about??? Remember, we're in a war on freedom...I mean terror.
The country's three biggest phone companies have been handing over call records to the National Security Agency (NSA) since 2001, the newspaper says.
President Bush refused to confirm or deny the existence of the programme.
He said he had authorised intelligence gathering in the wake of 9/11, adding that the activities were "lawful".
"Our intelligence activities strictly target al-Qaeda and their known affiliates," he said in a brief White House statement after the newspaper report appeared.
"The privacy of ordinary Americans is fiercely protected," he said, adding: "We are not mining or trolling [sic] through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans." Read more
db: What's all the fuss? Its just a few million calls being 'trolled' - if you got nothing to hide you got nothing to worry about??? Remember, we're in a war on freedom...I mean terror.
posted by exoplanet at 11:30 AM
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