Why Your Privacy is Important

The National Security Agency (NSA) has been collecting the phone call records of millions of Americans, without warrants, under the guise of anti-terrorism protection. 

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a non-profit group that works on protecting privacy, contends that the phone company cannot give customer data to the federal government without a warrant, and have filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T for doing so.

The government is now trying to have the case thrown out because of alleged "security reasons." This is the typical pattern of the government to introduce a problem, generate a reaction -- fear -- and then come up with a solution that takes away your freedom in exchange for their protection from the perceived threat. 

In this case, the freedom at risk is your privacy, and I highly recommend you read through Wired News' commentary on "The Eternal Value of Privacy" as a reminder of just what we stand to lose.

Meanwhile, if you're not thrilled with AT&T's (and other major phone companies') potential role in all of this, it may be time to consider voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) service. VoIP is less expensive, but also -- and perhaps more importantly -- it should reduce the government's ability to do this type of tracking and monitoring of your phone calls.