This month USA Today reported that the National Security Agency has been compiling and searching a massive database of Americans' telephone call records and data mining it for suspicious patterns. NPR reported that this activity was part of the same eavesdropping program The New York Times revealed in April.

With the new revelations (which the phone companies have denied) an old debate has again reared its ugly head. Proponents of strong government say civil libertarians don't appreciate the terrorist threat, and civil libertarians say that advocates of mass surveillance don't appreciate the danger of a prying government.

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