Call me a cynic, but is this really news to anyone? Ever since the 2008 FISA amendments passed (with then-Senator Obama's support, much to his disgrace) which legalized this kind of sweeping data collection, I have been assuming the government has been gathering these kinds of records all the time.
I'm not trying to minimize what the Obama administration is doing. As Booman said, he took the law and he ran with it. My outrage-o-meter was primed about this stuff back in 2008 when Congress shamefully tried to retroactively legalize the Bush administration's illicit surveillance program. We lost. The law was changed and what had been a clear criminal act no longer is. I still think government shouldn't be allowed to do stuff like this, but under current law it can. If I thought the current revelation might prompt a movement to repeal the 2008 amendments, that would be something. But I don't think it will because the GOP doesn't really have a problem with this program. So there is no opposition to take on the administration on this issue and nothing will come of this.
I'm not trying to minimize what the Obama administration is doing. As Booman said, he took the law and he ran with it. My outrage-o-meter was primed about this stuff back in 2008 when Congress shamefully tried to retroactively legalize the Bush administration's illicit surveillance program. We lost. The law was changed and what had been a clear criminal act no longer is. I still think government shouldn't be allowed to do stuff like this, but under current law it can. If I thought the current revelation might prompt a movement to repeal the 2008 amendments, that would be something. But I don't think it will because the GOP doesn't really have a problem with this program. So there is no opposition to take on the administration on this issue and nothing will come of this.
