What the Government Pays To Snoop On You

transporter_ii writes "So what does it cost the government to snoop on us? Paid for by U.S. tax dollars, and with little scrutiny, surveillance fees charged by phone companies can vary wildly. For example, AT&T, imposes a $325 'activation fee' for each wiretap and $10 a day to maintain it. Smaller carriers Cricket and U.S. Cellular charge only about $250 per wiretap. But snoop on a Verizon customer? That costs the government $775 for the first month and $500 each month after that, according to industry disclosures made last year to Congressman Edward Markey."

Comments

Re:It costs the government NOTHING.

[Anonymous Coward]

With that logic every penny we all spend is taken from our employers? No one/entity is a producer of wealth with your logic. The government does things for us, their employers, that would warrant us paying for. Now, the difference is that we don't have as much say as OUR employers do in how much the government makes off us.

Re:It costs the government NOTHING.

[Joce640k]

Bzzt! You lose. For your "theory", lets say the government buys a $1000 widget. It didn't produce that widget, it spent the money to buy that widget. It didn't spend $1000 for that widget, it spent $1200 because the government has its overhead.

Bzzt! You lose. The government pays at least 400% markup on anything it buys.