USA Today broke the story and it has been picked up by the other major news outlets.

CNN article here

USA Today Q&A here

Yep boys and girls, it seems that since 2001 many of our big telephone companies (including AT&T, Verizon, and Bell South) have been providing the NSA with records of telephone call details. Billions of 'em. According to the article the NSA's goal is "to create a database of every call ever made".

Now, to be fair, they aren't getting the actual texts of the conversations, but they are getting the numbers called which can easily be turned into who called who.

Here's Raytri's take: Midtopia.Blogspot.com

Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they're not really after you.

__________________
Catz: "And, the ever-sage Volvo Driver:"

As long as Bush uses the word "terror" it's OK.

__________________
I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.

I'm almost certain the NSA has being doing this for decades, but not on such a scale.

About the only thing you can do is use voiceover IP telephone service. Last I checked, they weren't in cahoots with the feds.

__________________
Proudly a "South Park Republican"

I'm not sure if I'm concerned, if they're looking for number patterns and not using personal info or tracking it all then I'm not sure why I should care. Plus as Gian stated, I would have sworn this has been happening for years if not decades. I become less of a Bush fan as each day passes, but I'm not sure I have reason to be nervous about this.

__________________
All you need to know about the energy crisis:
ANWR Exploration Republicans: 91% Supported. Democrats: 86% Opposed.
Coal-to-liquid R's: 90% YES. D's: 78% NO.
Oil Shale Exploration R's: 90% YES. D's: 86% NO.
Outer Continental Shelf Exploration R's: 81% YES. D's: 83% NO.
Increased Refinery Capacity R's: 97% YES. D's: 96% NO

SUMMARY: 91% of House Republicans have historically voted to increase the production of America’s own oil and gas. 86% of House Democrats have historically voted against.

For months now the argument was; In order to wiretap Americans, one side of the call had to be overseas, that's no longer the case. For all of you who defended the President's wiretap program based on the overseas issue, are you now planning to change your stance?

__________________
I've been informed....don't blame Bush, he's "not in control"
That must make him out of control

The problem I have is that if they have the phone numbers, they have your personal information. Also, all they are doing is random pattern matching. They are trolling for information using what should be private data unless a warrant is issued. Just another step down the slippery slope.

__________________
Catz: "And, the ever-sage Volvo Driver:"

CNN's Miles O'Brien spoke Thursday with Lesley Cauley, the USA Today reporter who broke the story.

O'BRIEN: First of all, this does not imply the NSA is listening to domestic phone calls you or I would make, correct?

CAULEY: That is correct, yes.

O'BRIEN: OK. So what exactly -- what kind of information are they gathering?

CAULEY: They are collecting what is known as call detail records. And this is simply the listing of the actual numbers dialed. Incoming and outgoing are being tracked. But, again, we're talking purely the calls being dialed. That does not include your name, street address, Social Security number, information of that sort


http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/05/11/cauley/

We are no longer stepping on the slippery slope, we are now eagerly sliding down the slide.

Nobody has any right to track who I talk to, without a warrent.

I heard Dubya's terse excuse speech earlier today. So much of his administration mirrors Nixon and I expect this speech similarly mirrors Nixon's "I Am Not A Crook" speech.

He's a crook.

__________________
I shall continue to be an impossible person as long as those who are now possible remain possible.
HuffPo's Off The Bus campaign coverage project....Off The Bus Blog

Oh Good Gawd people. The NSA is NOT interested in whether or not you called your Aunt Lily in Nebraska.

Dick Morris said tonight on the "O'Reilly Show" that the Dems will lose on the NSA issue everytime.....because it's a positive for Bush. So, I hope they keep talking about it. It only highlights that for 5 years, Bush has kept us safe from another terrorist attack. Most people don't mind one bit if the gov't has a database somewhere with the phone numbers of who they call. What we care about is that the terrorists are being monitored in every way possible.

Look folks. I just came from a movie this afternoon. The name of that movie is, "United Flight 93." It is the ONLY movie I've EVER seen in my entire life where at the end, I cried out loud. I didn't care that those around me heard me. They were either crying themselves.....or were sitting in stunned silence. And yes.....we all knew the outcome. But there is something about seeing it in what seemed like real time.....and in also realize just how evil these terrorists really are. Whenever a group of extremists believe that their religion REQUIRES them to do suicide missions against people who don't believe as they do, they are evil.

I wished the liberals and Bush-haters would be required to get up each morning and watch this movie....and/or replays of CNN or Fox from the morning of 9/11.

They seemed to have forgotten.

__________________
“I’ve been fighting alongside ACORN on issues you care about my entire career. Even before I was an elected official, when I ran Project Vote voter registration drive in Illinois, ACORN was smack dab in the middle of it, and we appreciate your work.” — Barack Obama, Speech to ACORN, November 2007