You're going to catch a lot of shit for this, but let me give you some props for keeping this alive. Thanks Adam, see you in gitmo when we're cell buddies!

AMERICA!

Fuck yeah.

w00t. I hope the CIA, FBI and every other government organization sees this post, because it will SURELY change their minds!!!

Lol, kudos for that post tho :)

Can I send him a copy of 1984 and make him read it? Please? Or am I now going to get labeled a terrorist for thought crimes?

@P3nnst8r:
America...
America...
America, FUCK YEAH!
Coming again, to save the mother fucking day yeah,
America, FUCK YEAH!
Freedom is the only way yeah,
Terrorist your game is through cause now you have to answer too,
America, FUCK YEAH!
So lick my butt, and suck on my balls,
America, FUCK YEAH!
What you going to do when we come for you now,
it's the dream that we all share; it's the hope for tomorrow

FUCK YEAH!

McDonalds, FUCK YEAH!
Wal-Mart, FUCK YEAH!
The Gap, FUCK YEAH!
Baseball, FUCK YEAH!
NFL, FUCK, YEAH!
Rock and roll, FUCK YEAH!
The Internet, FUCK YEAH!
Slavery, FUCK YEAH!

FUCK YEAH!

Starbucks, FUCK YEAH!
Disney world, FUCK YEAH!
Porno, FUCK YEAH!
Valium, FUCK YEAH!
Reeboks, FUCK YEAH!
Fake Tits, FUCK YEAH!
Sushi, FUCK YEAH!
Taco Bell, FUCK YEAH!
Rodeos, FUCK YEAH!
Bed bath and beyond (Fuck yeah, Fuck yeah)

Liberty, FUCK YEAH!
White Slips, FUCK YEAH!
The Alamo, FUCK YEAH!
Band-aids, FUCK YEAH!
Las Vegas, FUCK YEAH!
Christmas, FUCK YEAH!
Immigrants, FUCK YEAH!
Popeye, FUCK YEAH!
Democrats, FUCK YEAH!
Republicans (republicans)
(fuck yeah, fuck yeah)

Are you retarded? This is gizmodo right? Maybe move-on.org hijacked the page.

Seriously, who gives a rats ... if NSA wants to look at phone records or anything else for that matter. Its not like they're listening in on you asking your girlfriend what she is wearing.

Lets look at this as to what it really is....this is just an attempt by 66 trial lawyers who have contributed 1.5 million dollars to the very same politicians who want to go after the telco's. Just what our country needs, more outlandish judicial cash awards.

Lets put that on the front page of Gizmodo.

You know. The more I read about this wiretapping stuff that seems to be the cool thing to do in the States at the moment the more I wonder if anyone has actually sat down and done a sort of ROI study on the amount of wire taps done and hours of conversations recorded vs the number of terrorists they've caught using this method. I doubt that the number actually makes this uninhibited wiretapping worth it.

Nothing Bush can say or do can shock me. At this point, news is essentially "Today, Bush became a bigger embarrassment." All I can do is keep telling myself its a little worse than yesterday until next year. Then, I get to ask the same question of the next candidate. Hopefully, we can change it to at least every other day.

@mariogalaxyman: My thoughts exactly =o)

I am so going to start living off the grid. I hope they have a place to charge my iPod in the wilds.

Wow, more politics on Giz! I'm no fan of wiretapping, but let's not pretend that this is some sort of partisan thing. News flash: ALL POLITICIANS WANT TO INCREASE THEIR CONTROL. If that had been John Kerry or Al Gore or Hillary Clinton in office when some staffer said "hey we have a chance to get past that pesky constitution", they would have been just as (if not more) excited to rush to get it done. Adam, don't be a such a naif, do yourself a favor and stick to reporting on big robots and blu ray.

illegal wiretapping will not stop the terrorist terrorizing.

@knappoleon:
"Anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security"

Will this country ever recover from this administration?

My favorite part of the whole thing is that it could easily have been done legally... they just didn't want to bother with the paperwork.

So they already have the legal right to spy on us, but they'd just as soon do it illegally, and now they want us to thank them for it!

Please, sir, may I have another?

And he spoke to the 19% of fools who still blindly follow him by a magical trick of some sort ?

This guy and the rest of his gang should be put to prison for life for high treason, lies and misdemeanors who have killed (and still) 4000 soldiers and an incredible amount of iraquis and afghans victims.

Bloody fucker !

@SpacemanSpiff: Not President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho, porn star and five-time ultimate smackdown wrestling champion.

@SpacemanSpiff: I didn't say anything about the parties. I'd feel the same way if Hillary Clinton tried this bullshit. There's nothing partisan about this, the Republicans just so happen to be the ones pushing the wiretapping agenda.

Have to laugh at people saying "what do I care...I'm not doing anything wrong, I'm no terrorist". Yeah...that's how it starts. First they are looking for terrorists...next they are looking for drug dealers...next they are looking for drug users...next they are listening for when you mention to your buddy you just downloaded a movie on a torrent. Believe me, you don't want to give away your rights so freely.

Its this sort of mentality that prevents good democracy. Remember it is meant to be patriotism to the country, not to the government.

This all reminds me of the time when it was taboo to even discuss communism, for fear of being accused of being a commie.

firstly, 9/11 has been a very bad excuse for too many things already.
this shit needs to stop man!
what happened to the "FREE" Country? the american dream of being free.
i guess there are no other places to invade anymore! incade the home-land!

People just don't get it, if we don't give these compaines immunity they don't help us gather intelligence and it compromises national security. It's not for greedy or evil purposes.

if you don't have anything to hide, why do you care? the purpose of the wiretaps is not to catch you talking dirty to your girlfriend...it is to catch people discussing matters of national security. so if your not talking about blowing something up, why is it such a big deal?

Its for your safety...yes it may be take away some of your "privacy" but I think its well worth the trade.

@Mayor McRib

FUCK YEA!

You left off the caption for this photo. It was suppose to read:
President Bush reacts when asked by a young African child "Mr. Bush. Will you be bombing our country before you leave office?"

President Chimpy and First Lady Joker. What a great pair those fucktards make.

The following is taken from Harper's Weekly, Sept 28, 1867. It was written about Andrew Johnson shortly before his impeachment. Sound familiar?

The conduct of the President justifies the alarm which we have expressed. He means mischief, and he will be restrained only by his fears. A man in his position, who simultaneously defies his opponents and surrounds himself with those who are known to be his devoted adherents, is a man who intends to resist. His word, even if he gave it, could not be trusted. The law does not restrain him, for he denies the authority which makes it. The real situation at present is that the President asserts his will against the will of the people in Congress, and will probably try forcible conclusions with them.

It's pretty simple. If the government is going to ask the telephone companies to tap phone conversations and tell them it's "ok" then they shouldn't be allowed to be sued.

@TheCyberBob:
How would you know? A stopped attack will never make the news. I've read reports that said information obtained from water-boarding (not condoning it, using it as an example however) had prevented many attacks and saved hundreds of lives.
Although it's impossible to prove, it brings up an interesting point.

If 9/11 had not happend, would anybody have cared about afaganistan at all?
If instead, the news on 9/12 was "Today government officials arrested a ring of potential hijackers who blah blah blah blah," would anybody have payed attention? Probably not.

An old news motto says "If it bleeds it, leads. Good News is no news."
If there are positive outcomes to wiretapping, no matter how positive, you will never hear about them. Nobody cares about good news.
(This is not an endorsement for waterboarding OR wiretapping, its an observation of the news world and american perceptions of positive and negitive events. I think it's really messed up.)

All that aside, this really is not "gizmo" news in any way. Boo Giz. I guess it's technology news, but really it's old hat, old news, and just "omg bush." Bad form.

@drmaybe: You've nailed my thoughts on this EXACTLY!!

Adam, props for posting this...

Mr Bush, the question is really: Is the executive branch [and by extension, the telcos] above the law?

Answer: not in the America I know and love and want to protect!

I predict over 200 comments on this one...

@szrimaging:
you're assuming he's literate...

I think we all agree that that Bush is totally loose.
But look at the picture.
Would you really let your black son or daughter sleep-over at that white guys house?

To use his own words "any company that may have helped save American lives be thanked for performing a patriotic service; should those who stepped forward to say we're going to help defend America have to go to the courthouse to defend themselves"

YES!!! they must go to court for being the "roll over on your back like a good dog for the Prez" whores that they are.

The request was illegal, the response was illegal. All parties must abide by the constitution or else the US is a sham.

freedom of speech... its all fun and games until you say "bomb" in an airport. Like, "Man, this overly priced Sabarro's Pizza is da BOMB!" and then get tackled by NSA agents.

This just gives them a chance to do the same thing in the privacy of our own homes. Great quote from Benjamin Franklin in the above post, yet Americans are raised on propaganda that tells them that the world is out to get them. If you'd rather live in a plastic bubble and drink from the government's teat you shouldn't subject the rest of the free world to the same diaper treatment.

Anyone saying that this is in ANY way 'OK' is probably the same type of inhuman being that signed up to be an SS officer under Hitler.

Ya know, when this same crap happened thirty-five years ago, people went to jail and the President resigned.
Now? The White House stance is, "What? Yea? You got a problem with that?" This country has gone from "protector of democracy" to "schoolyard bully".
Teach your children, teach them while it's still not a crime. Teach them that there was a time in this country when it was every citizen's responsibility to question their government.

the thing is, even though most of us can see very clearly how this is a part of the continued destruction of our civil liberties, a lot of people seem to still think that it's okay because we're told it's protecting us from a terrorist threat. Funny thing though, tell those same people that they can't own a gun because, you know, people keep shooting each other for no good reason, and suddenly those same people get awfully uppity and complain about the constitution being trampled because some old guys HUNDREDS of years ago said so even though there is practically no relevance today.

@Adam Frucci:
You're right, this isn't a partisan issue - the Democrats helped pass all the dirty legislation too. *cough* patriot act *cough*

@soulman:
it's NEVER worth the trade and people like you can go choke on a bag of dicks. If YOU want to make that trade, be my guest. But what you are doing is advocating forcing all of us to make that trade.

Kudos to Mr Frucci and Giz for having the guts to say this is illegal, it is (and damned immoral too). I have nothing to hide, and I am as far from a terrorist as you can get, but for the government to take my liberties away means they will have pry them out of my dead little hand after I fight to the death for them. If anyone is unwilling to fight to keep their freedom, they dont deserve freedom. Sheep.

he law says no wire tap with a court order. this is so that the government doesn't spy without probable cause. Once a court order is in hand the telcos must cooperate. If there is no court order then the teleco must not release the information. plain and simple. This is no a left wing or right wing issue this is a issue of our rights as citizens and the governments requirement to follow it own rules. Bush is asking that the law be changed becasue his administration doesn't want to play by the rules. His argumnet that the telecos will have no reason to coopeate is bull. The telcos need to follow the law. If they do and there is a court order they are protected anyhow so there is no problem.

We should do a "bomb, terrorist and Bush is a morron" day to overload their fucking spying system: in every email we send, in every phone conversation we have we include these words... like a signature.

Here is what your site owners say: User Privacy
Though we make every effort to preserve user privacy, Gawker Media may need to disclose personal information when required by law wherein we have a good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with a current judicial proceeding, a court order or legal process served on any of the GM Sites. Please refer to our privacy policy for more information. [gawker.com]

Adam, will you please tell me what Gizmodo does with all of the "private" information you collect off of the people that visit Gizmodo? I have seen the information my company is capable of getting off people that stop by our corporate site.

I love how Gizmodo couldn't help itself from becoming a liberal lovin political blog. It is too bad you guys couldn't just keep to gadgets. I like your site but I am getting tired of the liberal bias. I guess we who are not of your ilk will need to decide if we want to keep supporting the site as it becomes more politically charged. Can't wait for the anti-McCain stuff during the coming months and the DailyKos and Huffington post links...

I think Adam is a terrorist because I saw him on Fox News at Rutgers during a political stop a few weeks ago? If it wasn't him, he has a body double.

I'm proud to be an American

@josho2001:
Word.

It's incrementalism. The frog in the pot. Please, people, arm yourselves - for one thing, do you think terrorists would attempt to infiltrate a country where every citizen is armed?

I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

As a VZ shareholder, shut up Frucci!
As a human being, well said Frucci!

@Siouxperman:
It's not liberalism it's constitutionalism - DEMOCRATS ARE JUST AS CULPABLE FOR THIS SHIT AND ANYONE WHO BELIEVES OTHERWISE IS NOT FUCKING PAYING ATTENTION.

@mariogalaxyman: I think you have it wrong. If we give them a court issued search warrant, they HAVE to comply. The problem is that they didn't get a search warrant. It would have been very easy to get a search warrant. In fact they could have gone without for up to 72 hours, before they had to get one. So, the "ticking bomb" scenario doesn't hold either. FISA has only rejected a handful of requests in the entire history of the court.

@Sean: Funny, every time something is going really badly for Bush, there's a new terror alert, a "plot" is broken up, etc. What we don't find out is that most of those "plots" are bogus and the suspects are often let off completely or with minimal charges. In fact, we even pushed the UK government to arrest some suspects earlier than they wanted (they felt they didn't have enough evidence) because it was near the 2004 election. The result that nobody knows about is that most were let off for lack of evidence.