Friday, February 07, 2014

A Giant Waste Of Money

Really isn't the most important thing, but I do think it's important to keep pointing out that the surveillance state is largely a self-justifying money sucking machine.
The National Security Agency is collecting less than 30 percent of all Americans’ call records because of an inability to keep pace with the explosion in cellphone use, according to current and former U.S. officials.

The disclosure contradicts popular perceptions that the government is sweeping up virtually all domestic phone data. It is also likely to raise questions about the efficacy of a program that is premised on its breadth and depth, on collecting as close to a complete universe of data as possible in order to make sure that clues aren’t missed in counterterrorism investigations.

Not that I want them to be able to sweep up everything, but if you are basing your intelligence program around sweeping up everything, and you aren't, there really isn't much point to doing it.