This entire NSA debate is based on a false premise.
We have been programmed by the Republican Party, with the help of the national media, to think it is all about protecting our country from terrorists. That is the false premise.
In September of 2001, the NSA had all the information they needed to prevent a terrorist attack. They had received several memos and warnings about possible attacks. But the Republican leadership ignored them.
So, rather than accept responsibility for the worst terrorist attack in our country's history, they had to create a false narrative to fight their "war on terror". They needed more tools to fight this war on Al Qaeda and the Taliban, they said. They needed to disregard the Geneva Convention in order to torture prisoners for information.
There was no need for the American people to give up their 4th Amendment rights. There was no need for the government to accumulate vast amounts of personal information on every American. There was no need to build a huge information center in Utah to process all this information.
But it was all part of the effort to shield Bush and Cheney and the Republican Party from the blame of the terrorist attack of 9/11. With the help of the corporate media, they were successful in diverting attention or blame from themselves.
Now, more than a dozen years later, the "war on terror" has become a part of our culture. Even Democratic Presidents come forth to declare the necessity of spying on Americans. Although there is not one incident that they can find to show they have stopped even one terrorist act, they continue to build upon this Republican lie.
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"I'm always right. When I'm wrong I admit it.
So then I'm right about being wrong." 
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Don't ever underestimate the long-term effects of a good night's sleep.[/center][/font][hr]
You have no idea how insidious 'metadata' analysis is. The absolute WORST part is they're storing this to use later, if you happen to piss someone off with a top secret clearance. They can ruin you and no one would be the wiser. People such as yourself makes this situation truly frightening. Blindly defending the indefensible.
As you can see from my posting numbers, I ain't about to address a fool much. Bye! 
this exaggeration is needed to prove we live in a police state! 
I remember when ignorance was something to be cured, to clung to and proudly shouted for all to hear.
that not very many people really KNOW what metadata be.
A good example would be to go to some electronic map (I learned what it was when I was learning about electronic cartography via ESRI products) and click around the tabs. There should be one somewhere that says meta or metadata, you will see that it is usually up to a full page of info that describes in text everything that is on the image, it's just the text version.
So that would mean, basically (elementarily, really) everything that is found in the "other file" whether it's sound or image only without the visual or sound included. There is nothing innocuous about it since it will identify the source location (coordinates and coordinate type) of all features of the file, and the phone numbers what was said by whom or at least a summary of the conversation along with all the other finer particulars of the "event".
The only reason to have the actual sound file of a phone conversation is for the voice ID. There's a sh*tload of there there. If somebody wanted to hit you with a drone, say, all they have to do is enter in the live metadata and you're toast... or ashes.
there's a considerable amount of omission in that statement. What good is all the other stuff without content? I don't buy the seeming innocence it implies. But that's just me, I'm not as conditioned as I should be I guess.
metadata isn't personal since it would very likely include the individual's name to the phone acct or addresses where it is located via the GPS unit in it. There is a GPS unit in every cell phone, it's used quite often even by ski patrol folks to locate lost skiers, like very often. the sane with lost folks in most any place... even if you have a cheap prepay phone with no name on the acct. the location of its regular placement, like your home, is in the meta and probably includes who lives where. And with content... well.
And I watched that press conf with the "other" whistle-blowers today, the take home message there was that YOU DO NOT GET TO KNOW OR DECIDE WHAT IS RIGHT OR WRONG in this, it is arbitrary at best and depends on who is interested in what/where.whom you have contact with, period. And they have access to that regardless. And I don't trust the president getting up and saying he's on it and then nothing changes because that's what's gonna be what happens... lip service
Try googling yourself sometime and see how much google knows about you just from your web surfing or whenever something you wrote online has your name attached. You can be tracked down by anyone online.
It's getting pretty creepy. 
We cannot permit these secret courts to be the only oversight on this dangerous policy. The Congress needs much more oversight over the secret courts, in my opinion. Anyway, I think the Constitution probably gives the Congress the right to declare war, even wars on terrorism. That power should not be in the hands of secret courts, in the first place. We should rid ourselves of these "star chambers".
Thank you.
The game is rigged.
(Pay no attention to the surveillance state supporter behind the curtain; Grover Norquist isn't involved. 
)
hoo boy. 
