They've been listening for years

vanity | 06-07-2013 | chuckles 

I'm retired from ATT for 12 years now. I worked as a tech installer and repair for digital circuits. During the Clinton administration, I was involved in installing fiber mux's that I was informed went to somewhere in Va. It was pretty common knowledge that it was the gubmint. The sheer size and speed of the circuits was what brought attention to it from most of us working on it. I don't want to spend 2 hours of typing about what it was, but just say it was part of a fiber ring, a very LARGE fiber ring.
Let's consider what happens when you call ATT with trouble on your DSL line. The call can be answered in Austin Tx. and the trouble ticket can flow to St Louis. In truth, it could go anywhere on the globe. The talk was the techs would be in Monterey Mexico for awhile, but how silly would that be to put your WHOLE NETWORK AT THE HANDS OF FOREIGNERS?
The poop I got was that this was part of a security network for the gubmint and would be paid for by the "Gore" tax. Now your trouble ticket would be taken by a phone company worker and he/she could dial in your number into his test position and monitor and test your line. He could see everything you had on your desktop and watch what was happening on your line to find the trouble. The point here is THIS capability was going to the government 15 years ago and they could read your email, or look at your history or whatever. They basically( according to what I was told) would look for key words, like "bomb", "terror", "attack", ( I'm sure I just triggered it). The key here is though, what if I wanted to monitor a congressman. All I need is his DSL line number( usually his phone number, but not so much now). As far as I know, there was no judges and warrants involved from the get go. I complained back then, but not many seemed to care. Now this has grown exponentially. Now, we have the new facility being built in Utah. I'm told this will be big enough to follow EVERYONE ON THE,.......PLANET! We will know everything about some guy in Nigeria and the computer he used to send the email that wanted you to help him get his millions out of hock.
How will politicians stop themselves from checking Limbaugh, or Ted Cruz, or Sarah Palin? Could you stop yourself from looking up BHO's BC or college records? The toothpaste is out of the tube now, IMHO, and I don't think it will be put back in. Even if I witnessed them blowing up the buildings in Utah, I would figger they had our stuff an a huge thumb drive in a Colorado mountain. I can't wait for ObamaCare to tell me since I'm in the NRA, "No chemo for you!"
BTW, where's the Tea Party? Shouldn't they be planning a million man march on July 4th by now?