It comes down to whether the phone records are considered anonymous information or not. If they are, then the phone companies can turn them over without a warrant. More can be heard on this NPR Morning Edition story (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5414285) I heard today. The link is to a web page. There's a listen option there.
I argue that since the only way the NSA could use those records is with them not being anonymous that it's impossible for the information to be anonymous.
It doesn't need a separate database anyway (unless you just mean a separate source of data)
The NSA searches the database for Phone Number 1 which they've identified from their investigations. Phone Number 1 called Phone Number 2. So they go use a web search engine to look up Phone Number 2 and find out who owns it.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2006-05-18 02:28 pm (UTC)I argue that since the only way the NSA could use those records is with them not being anonymous that it's impossible for the information to be anonymous.
It doesn't need a separate database anyway (unless you just mean a separate source of data)
The NSA searches the database for Phone Number 1 which they've identified from their investigations. Phone Number 1 called Phone Number 2. So they go use a web search engine to look up Phone Number 2 and find out who owns it.