How the NSA's Illegal Spying Puts You at Risk

It's no longer a secret that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been illegally collecting the phone call records of millions of Americans. Still, the American public has yet to react to this major scandal, signifying it is still not widely known how this spying is putting the United States in danger.

Former NSA analyst Ira Winkler points out several points that Americans need to know in this excellent opinion piece:

• The NSA's warrantless spying is illegal
• It provides useless information
• It takes law enforcement agents away from investigating and preventing crimes actually being committed
• It erodes civil liberties
• We have no clue how bad it really is

Aside from threatening your very privacy, Winkler sums up quite nicely how the NSA's actions are threatening America as we know it: "They [The NSA] are bypassing legally required oversight mechanisms. This implies that the operations are massive, and go well beyond the scope of looking at terrorists. Not only is this diminishing what makes America unique and worth preserving, it removes all quality control and puts the country at increased risks by moving resources away from critical investigations of more substantial threats."

Computer World May 16, 2006