Program gives cops access to trillions of US phone records

And it's funded through the White House to avoid privacy regs and FOIA

When I was a boy a relative of mine lamented the ongoing loss of liberties in the United States. And this was in the 80s. He said that as I got older I should watch the government closely. With each passing year liberties would be reduced, either with taxes, over-regulation, over policing, etc. And this relative has been right. In my now 47 years I have seen a massive encroachment on our basic civil liberties. From speech, to banking, to pretty much everything, the liberties of the everyday American have been eroded.

Crony capitalism has been a big part of that erosion.

Case in point, today we have a report from WIRED that outlines the Data Analytical Services (DAS) program. Basically what it does is it gives metadata gathered by AT&T to law enforcement without a warrant. Additionally, the people who are surveilled are not even suspects. They are just tertiary contacts of “people or interest”. So if you have a degenerate brother or child, your phone information, who you’ve called, when you’ve called and so on going back at least ten years, may very likely be in the hands of law enforcement.

This information is reportedly “volunteered” by AT&T, but AT&T is compensated through a rather shadowy White House channel. The Obama, Trump, and Biden White Houses have all participated.

Thankfully Senator Wyden (D-OR) who is often good on these types of issues has decided to make a stink about the program.