Big Brother IS watching... (Score 2)

Well, 15 years late, we've finally come to _1984_. While not the first news that's been broken about ECHELON, it's amazing how few people actually know about this program. What's even scarier (to me) is the reaction I get from my students when I tell them what we know of ECHELON so far. 80 percent of them don't really care, and the remaining 20 percent care but don't get upset. I'm just a cranky paranoid prof. in their eyes, and admittedly, I do tend to get cranky when I see my constitutional rights infringed upon. But is it paranoia when there is proof that people are listening to my conversations??? This is the type of government intrustion that the 6th ammendment is supposed to protect us against. (If anyone is unfamiliar with THAT, take a look at: http://www.constitution.org/billofr_.htm )

If anyone else gets stark-raving-fist-pounding-clothes-ripping mad about this type of stuff (or just a little miffed), please take a gander at http://www.aclu.org/action/echelon106.html . There's some info there on ECHELON and an opportunity to fax your congress members and senators about the NSA and their ECHELON program. I wonder what would happen if the slashdot effect went political? Boggles the mind...