Left to chance

I found this pretty interesting, to find out names of sources that a journalist talked to about the government’s secret wiretapping of Americans without court orders, federal investigators are using phone records. So they look to the phone companies for names to find out who talked to the Times about the investigation into how the Feds used the phone companies to spy on its citizens.

In the leak investigation, Justice Department officials are using phone records in an Arlington, Va. federal grand jury proceeding to ferret out James Risen’s sources, according to the New York Times. One presumes the government is using subpoenas or National Security Letters to get Risen or his suspected sources’ phone records, then hauling former government officials in front of the grand jury. But given that this Administration operates on the belief that the Fourth Amendment does not apply during wartime, that the Justice Department is not pursuing criminal charges against officials involved in wiretapping Americans without court approval and that the Administration claims to have King-like powers in the Time of Terror, the presumption that legal process was involved might be quaint.

And so explains my reluctance to even look at an iPhone, considering buying one could lock you in a contract with AT&T until 2010! To learn what that gets you, check the ongoing AT&T coverage at eff.org.