Warrantless wiretaps are WORTHLESS.

[atommom]

It's been clear from the beginning that the warentless wiretaps aren't needed because the FISA court was already set up to allow instant access to any possible "known terrorist." So we already knew that the wiretaps were more about grabbing power than stopping terrorists.

But here's something you might not have realized. The wiretaps themselves are worthless.

While Condi Rice was quite content to think that Saddam might secretly be cooking up nukes, and any number of Bush officials have suggested that the terrorists are capable of sophisticated, high tech attacks, they seem to have missed something obvious. If the terrorists are as capable as Bush officials maintain, then there's no way the wiretap program will catch them.

In this simple 13 minute home video, Mark Burkell -- who makes no pretense of being a security expert -- explains how anyone can easily defeat an attempt at wiretapping by using VOIP phones with freely available encryption routines. According to Burkell, not only does Bush know he's lying about the need for the program, his administration doesn't even understand how telecommunications work.

http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2006/10/22/19117/102

[buddysmellgood]

1. Proof, that this power grab is for spying on Americans, not terrorists. It

is the political opposition that will be careless and not use encryption.

[atommom]

2. Yes, they want the wiretaps, but not for the reasons they gave us. nt

[MrCoffee]

3. The funny part is, if they had tried to get them admitted as evidence

in a criminal trial, there's no way in hell any federal judge would have allowed them in because they were in violation of FISA.

[Rex]

4. They wanted this law to have the ability

to smash in peoples frontdoors, without a warrant or needing one. Looks like they got what they wanted. :(

[HereSince1628]

5. Exactly. This is just as much about busting meth labs and such.

Remember there was a big deal made about agencies sharing information on criminal behavior...

Probably also used during previsit sweeps to communities about to have appearances of our Dear Leader and his terra-talk ensemble.

[atommom]

6. kick

[ourvoicescount]

7. Whoever thinks that a terrorist is paying an AT&T phonebill for their communications...

...is Bush in the head...

Great post, thanks.

[mmonk]

8. Who says its terrorists they are tapping?

If it were, I think they would have gone through the FISA court. There's a reason they didn't.

[atommom]

9. can't resist one more kick.

[jazzjunkysue]

10. Sorta yes, sorta no. There's another reason to consider.

While it is true that the testimony or ividence in inadmisable, this is not their goal.

If they are looking to catch their political adversaries, then whatever they learn is certainly quite useful.

But, even if they're going for information that they might want to go public with later, they can secretly go on their fishing expeditions until they find someething, and then take that name to the fisa court, and never reveal how they found that name.

Chances are, if someone has one phone conversation or email that's damning, they'll have more.