Yes, yes, I’m slow on this. I’m getting ready for an actuarial exam, so I’m going to be prone to missing or being late on news items for the next 4½ weeks.
Over the weekend the wire services produced this bundle of joy:
The National Security Agency could have legally monitored ordinarily confidential communications between doctors and patients or attorneys and their clients, the Justice Department said Friday of its controversial warrantless surveillance program.
Responding to questions from Congress, the department also said that it sees no prohibition to using information collected under the NSA’s program in court.
I thought that protecting the confidentiality of doctor/patient or attorney/client communications was deemed to be necessary to encouraging individuals to seek medical help or to obtain necessary legal advice, and therefore was a net benefit to society.
Ah, well. We can trust the government to protect our privacy, right? (*cough* *cough*)
Also from the same article:
The department also avoided questions on whether the administration believes it is legal to wiretap purely domestic calls without a warrant, when al-Qaida activity is suspected. The department wouldn’t say specifically that it hasn’t been done.
“Interception of the content of domestic communications would present a different legal question,” the department said.
So, has anyone else noticed clicking sounds on their phone lines recently? 