The template, the officials say, was created from a secret database of phone call records collected by the spy agency.
Secret database??? They snatched records from the phone company.
Calls coming into the country from Pakistan, Afghanistan or the Middle East, for example, are flagged by NSA computers if they are followed by a flood of calls from the number that received the call to other U.S. numbers.
So if one of our servicepersons calls his/her worried mother to reassure her that he/she is ok after a particularly hostile engagement and she wants to let the rest of the family know, which one is the terrorist?
The spy agency then checks the numbers against databases of phone numbers linked to terrorism, the officials say. Those include numbers found during searches of computers or cellphones that belonged to terrorists.
If they find something suspicious, they check to see if it's connected to a known terrorist phone number? If they already have a list of known terrorist phone numbers, then just what the hell are they looking for?
if this case actually gets a court hearing or if it will be subject to "state secrets privilege" -- an executive power that lets the government effectively kill civil lawsuits deemed a threat to national security, even if the state is not a party to the suit.
"After the privilege is properly invoked, the privileged material is completely removed from the litigation, and the court must determine how the unavailability of the privileged information affects the case." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Secrets_Privi lege
IANAL, but I see the possibility of the details of just what information in ATT databases was accessed being deemed privileged material and thereby being disallowed as evidence.
Slashdot Mirror
Secret database??? They snatched records from the phone company.
Calls coming into the country from Pakistan, Afghanistan or the Middle East, for example, are flagged by NSA computers if they are followed by a flood of calls from the number that received the call to other U.S. numbers.
So if one of our servicepersons calls his/her worried mother to reassure her that he/she is ok after a particularly hostile engagement and she wants to let the rest of the family know, which one is the terrorist?
The spy agency then checks the numbers against databases of phone numbers linked to terrorism, the officials say. Those include numbers found during searches of computers or cellphones that belonged to terrorists.
If they find something suspicious, they check to see if it's connected to a known terrorist phone number? If they already have a list of known terrorist phone numbers, then just what the hell are they looking for?
I would hate to see this get into a government computer and delete all their porn downloads.
"After the privilege is properly invoked, the privileged material is completely removed from the litigation, and the court must determine how the unavailability of the privileged information affects the case."i lege
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Secrets_Priv
IANAL, but I see the possibility of the details of just what information in ATT databases was accessed being deemed privileged material and thereby being disallowed as evidence.