Eavesdropping Helpful Against Terrorist Plot [UPDATED]

AcidPenguin9873 writes "The New York Times reports that the U.S. government's ability to eavesdrop on personal communications helped break up a terrorist plot in Germany. The intercepted phone calls and emails revealed a connection between the plotters and a breakaway cell of the terrorist group Islamic Jihad Union. What does this mean for the future of privacy in personal communications? From the article: '[Director of national intelligence Mike McConnell's] remarks also represent part of intensifying effort by Bush administration officials to make permanent a law that is scheduled to expire in about five months. Without the law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Mr. McConnell said the nation would lose "50 percent of our ability to track, understand and know about these terrorists, what they're doing to train, what they're doing to recruit and what they're doing to try to get into this country.'" Update: 09/13 12:59 GMT by J : See followup story.

Comments

Re:So..?

[Recovering Hater]

Your attitude means the terrorists win.

Hello, Abdul?

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

Hello! Abdul? yi number-se cellphone qal nai karth, yo shaitan-ki-walla maal ki por. paavi yimail 2048 bit bath kaaq me da![*]

[*] That is Pashtun for, "Don't call me in my cell phone, the Satanists are on to it. just send emails using 2048 bit encryption."

Future?

[Ace905]

Future of privacy? Your privacy is already completely gone. You gave it up to find the terrorists, remember?

Sure, there's no such thing as a 'terrorist' - but at least you're getting cheap oil out of Afghanistan. I mean Iraq. I mean more expensive.

Islamic Jihad Union??

[tritonman]

Are you sure it wasn't the Jihad Islamic Union or the Union of Islamic Jihads? SPLITTERS!