Are we suppose to believe that "terrorists" use the same phone lines that ordinary folks do?

[KansDem]

I mean, if I were a highly-trained, well-disciplined "terrorist," I don't think I'd be using the same phone line for my "terrorist activities" that I'd be using to call my aunt, or old high-school pal, or former girlfriend. I think I would have a highly-sophisticated communications system in place to thwart such eavesdropping.

It seems to me the only people this FISA will be used on is...well, "us."

[robinlynne]

1. definitely on Dem politicians....

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Could be, depending on the government's definition of "terrorist".

Any one of us could be so defined with the PATRIOT ACT II.

[hisownpetard]

3. Yup.

[sandnsea]

4. That's why they updated the Patriot Act

To include all those "highly-sophisticated communications systems", and yes, that is what they're targeting with this FISA bill, along with any other communication systems that might be used.

[NNN0LHI]

5. Timothy McVeigh did and he was ... well ... one of us. Kind of

:hi:

[KG]

6. give that man a cee-gar!

[IndianaJones]

7. I saw some terrorists laying fiber optic lines just the other day. nt.

[KansDem]

9. Hey, I think I saw them too!

They were working on the side of the highway, and there was a sign that read, "Hit a Terrorist: $10,000 Fine and Lose Your License."

Were you by chance on I-35 just outside Kansas City?

[notesdev]

8. Of course not

They use TerroristNet, the premier terrorist communications network.

Seriously, though... the answer is yes, because a 'terrorist' is whatever the PTB want it to be. They use the word 'terrorist' because, after all, no sane person can possibly want to give quarter to a 'terrorist', and therefore anything goes with respect to stopping 'terrorists'.

Never mind that they don't have the guts to actually name the enemy they are fighting... and if we don't know who the enemy is, then we cannot know who the enemy is not.

[leftofcool]

10. Sure they do........

it's all part of the evil axis plan (sarcasm)

[xyouth]

11. They may have their own secure satellite phones using UAE satellites.

I'm sure our government has given them plenty of money to afford them. Isn't encrypted VOIP accessible to everyone? This is just more BIG Brother BS.

[leveymg]

12. MI6 gave UBL a global satphone system in the 1990s.

Some al-Qaeda operatives were even convinced that the phones they were given had special SIM cards that made them impossible to trace. So, they transferred the cards into each new phone they obtained. :think:

Then there was the al-Qaeda cell in Denver that piggybacked MCI lines from London to Saudi Arabia. They were convinced that because the hub ran through an old US military hub in Colorado Springs that British Intelligence couldn't (or wouldn't) tap it. :rofl:

Of course, the Brits and NSA listened in to every call for years. :popcorn:

Any direct electronic communications system can be eavesdropped and decyphered.

For a review of warrantless wiretapping before 9/11 (and related subjects), see: www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0310/S00257.htm