print“Senate voted to curb the collection of millions of Americans’ phone records, the first significant retrenchment of government spying powers since the 9/11 attacks,” blared the headline on the Wall Street Journal. Yes, the sluts in the Senate signed something, but it was a classic case of bait-and-switch. The maneuver—the passing of the USA Freedom Act intended to replace Section 215 of the Patriot Act—will not prohibit the illegal collection of American metadata, but will simply co-opt the telecommunications companies into the service of the Surveillance State, a very dangerous state-of-affairs, indeed.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell worried that blocking “the House bill … would hamstring the government’s ability to detect terrorist threats.”
Would blocking the Bill have made safety worse than the 95 percent fail rate in the Transportation Security Administration’s ability to detect and stop armed passengers?
UPDATE I: Co-Opting Corporations Into The Service Of The Surveillance State. “USA Freedom Act: Privatization of the Patriot Act.”
UPDATE II (6/3): Good News: NSA Are Not Complete Liars.
It is encouraging that the NSA itself or its front people admits that “NSA’s bulk collection has not prevented a single terrorist attack.” My tongue is firmly in my cheek here. This preposterous admission means that our overlords who art in DC are not complete liars; they don’t always lie about their lies.
As to efficacy, if a purely utilitarian position is adopted: “A numerate analysis shows that the cost of NSA spying is substantially higher than the expected benefits.”