The easiest way to fix the problem with the NSA having access to too much personal information is for the government to pay the telecommunications companies to retain the information, which can then be subpoenaed if someone needs to look at it.
Here’s an example of why this makes sense. When the bombings happened at the Boston Marathon, we obviously wanted to look at the bombers’ communications. Who did they email? Who did they call? Who called them? What web sites did they visit? What did they do with social media? That information is kept by the telcos for about six months, and anything older than that is probably gone.
Now, we can have the NSA store that information because it is quite expensive to save it. But, we can also just pay the telcos to retain it. It’s the same thing. The cost is the same, anyway. But if the telcos have it, we don’t have to worry about some bureaucrat listening to celebrities’ phone calls or reading our emails for shits and giggles.
I think it’s valid to preserve the information, but we can do it in a way that better protects our privacy. And it’s simple.
