LA Times calls for end to NSA metadata program, ‘End it don’t mend it’

Edward Snowden’s defection to Russia and outing of NSA monitoring details has renewed the conversations and debates surrounding the government monitoring and tracking to protect Americans.

Noting that the issue is complex, the Tuesday LA Times editorial details the tracking and warns of the pitfalls.

“It’s easy, amid the legal and technical complexities, to lose sight of the question at the heart of this debate: whether the government should be able, without a showing of probable cause of a connection to terrorism, to obtain and store information that can often provide as wide a window on the private lives of Americans as the actual contents of phone calls.

The article points to minimal provisions and safety nets which have been added, but the metadata sweeps are still wide open and seemingly ignore the 4^th amendment.

“…defenders of the program emphasize that the database is searched or “queried” only when there is “reasonable, articulable” suspicion of a connection to terrorism. The Intelligence Committee bill would further discourage abuse by mandating an annual public accounting of the number of queries and limiting the number of people at the NSA who may authorize them,” The Times says before offering a profound warning.

“…the mere possession of such information by the government is unsettling, and there is no guarantee that some employees with access to private information won’t betray their trust.”

Critics are still calling for the program to end and a large media outlet like the LA Times appears to be joining the protest by stating: “The metadata program intrudes on the privacy of virtually every American. It needs to be ended, not mended.”