What Limits For Warrantless Wiretapping?
By Susan Kuchinskas April 10, 2008 SAN FRANCISCO — Telephone companies are sitting on a potential diamond mine of information. The Bush administration is locked in a struggle with Congress about the rules for mining the data. Once again, technology has leapfrogged regulation. And once again, the battle lines are drawn around ideological positions. A panel discussion at the RSA security conference, held in San Francisco this week, illuminated the divide between those who want to take full advantage of data mining technology and those who think the courts should help safeguard the privacy of U.S. citizens. In August 2006, a federal judge ordered the Bush administration to cease all warrantless wiretapping of calls between Americans and suspected foreign terrorists, after the program of eavesdropping on calls between the United States and foreign countries was revealed by Eric Lichtblau of the New York Times. Lichtblau moderated the panel. At issue is whether the government can go around
