* Telcos' spooky ties
* Space war FUD, debunked
* Chicago spycams doing the trick? (background here)
* New U.S. nukes on tap
* Kenya press raids eyeballed
* The mathematics of guerilla war
* Howard Stern vs. Osama
* Yes, we should worry about Iran's nukes, but they ain't here yet
* Coasties' budget blues: cutters out half the time
(Big ups: YK, LANL: TRS, Smart Cameras)
UPDATE 03/07/06 9:50 AM: "From a technical standpoint, Shorrock [author of 'Telcos' spooky ties'], is mixing apples and oranges," says one knowledgeable reader.
In his first para he references "huge databases of communications records", and then how NSA "sifts through this data for key words and phrases that could indicate communication to or from suspected terrorists".
The problem with this is that the "communications records" are nothing more than 'number x' called 'number y', from 'time x' to 'time y' (and some form of geolocational data for mobile services so that they know how to bill). There are no "words and phrases" for anyone to sift through. He insinuates that the telecoms have big databases with the actual audio recordings, when this is so obviously not true. First, it would be illegal for them to do so, and second imagine the inconceivable amounts of storage capacity that that would require.
Shorrock is either truly ignorant of the difference between these apples and oranges (which doesn't give me much confidence for any other details in his article), or he is trying to sell a scare message with a bait and switch tactic.
