Façade

Façade

It all started with coverage about what was originally referred to as the domestic spying program. The Bush administration having relied heavily upon the tactic of fear was afraid of what the public might think negatively of a domestic spying program would be more amenable to the terrorist surveillance program. All was well and good until it was reported that the NSA has beed working on a data collection program with phone companies, AT&T, Verizon and Bell South.

What makes all this news so interesting is that the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board[pdf] has been publicly silent on the issues of warrantles wiretaps, data collection of millions, possibly billions of phone calls in the US. The ACLU met with the board members (who were appointed by Bush in June 2005) at the end of April 2006 and called for an independent oversight board. I wish I could feign suprise when this president and his adminstration talk about the need for "government transparency" while they operate behind the opaque curtain. The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board will no doubt operate behind the same curtain.