Wiretapping's chilling effect on free speech.

While I can understand some people arguing that the wiretapping program by the NSA is important in the war on terror, I believe that they are missing an important aspect of the program. If anyone is afraid of being caught up in the NSA's arbitrary fishing expedition, they will modify their behavior and censor themselves.

Yesterday, in the NY Times, Bob Herbert had an important article that I believe illustrated and brought home this argument. due to NYT's current locking out of certain articles unless you have a paid subscription, I am unable to link the article. Which is unfortunate. because it is worth reading.

One of the examples he illustrated, I will paraphrase. What if you are running for Congress. And, in order to better prepare yourself, you want to talk to someone in the Middle East, who may be a controversial person. What if you suspected the person may be monitored by our government? Would that make you less likely to talk to that person?

Also, he mentioned that the FBI has complained about being bombarded by thousands upon thousands of usless tips from the NSA. "Names, email addresses and so forth that have led nowhere." This tells me that the wiretapping is a wide fishing expedition without the strict controls the administration says are in place.

We cannot allow this to continue. As the article mentions, Laurence Tribe makes the point that if we do, we will grow accustomed to censoring ourselves for fear of Big Brother hearing us. This is why the program is wrong and must be returned to the FISA standards. Imperfect they may be, it is better than what could become reality now.