Eavesdropping

In the recent weeks, Mein Fürher has come under attack on the topic of privacy. Specifically, his ability to order eavedropping on Americans without a court order, even though Congress did not authorize the program.

Bush has strongly come to the defense of his actions. He has been quoted that the process is an "obligation to protect you." Those who disagree are worried of the slippery slope of the decision of who will be spied on. He's also said "this is a different era, a different war." While this may be true, our constitution still disagrees with his actions.

I'm very worried about and more importantly the Bush Administration's (Cheney) stance that the Executive Branch should have more power. Once again, this goes against the Constitution. Recently, he was quoted saying something to the effect of "stop throwing the Constitution in my face, it’s just a goddamned piece of paper!” Interesting stance Mein Furher. Why don't we just get rid of our democracy, which we supposedly are trying to spread, and just make you the dictator now.

But, at the same time, I question the negative response to the eavesdropping. Haven't we had ECHELON for quite some time. In case you are unfamiliar, Wikipedia states that "ECHELON can capture radio and satellite communications, telephone calls, faxes and e-mails nearly anywhere in the world and includes computer automated analysis and sorting of intercepts. ECHELON is estimated to intercept up to 3 billion communications every day."

Now, here's the catch, ECHELON is not permitted to intercept communications within the US in order to satisfy the constitution. But, the UK, Australia, and I think a few handful of allied countries have their own ECHELON systems. Like the US, these allied countries do not spy on their own citizens. Once again, here's the catch, it has been often documented and theorized that the members of the ECHELON share their information. Its a loop hole, because the US isn't spying on its citizens, only receiving intelligence from other nations.

So, my question is - where is the outrage over this system?