The other real story is not that the government does this, it is that the government did not tell us it did this. THAT makes it underhand.
If the government came out and said, look we are storing who calls whom and asking telecos to store that information and, with judicial oversight, we will access that information, and we had a debate about it, that would be the proper way.
The government is taking the course "It is better to ask forgiveness than permission".
Obama is going to take the rap for this, and I therefore wonder at the timing. I think it is important to realize two things
1. Obama continued the Bush era policies 2. Obama continued the Bush era policies
Either that is the ONLY way security can be done, or there is some powerful faction within the bureaucracy which has gotten used to working in the shadows.
I think that there is some bunch of bureaucrats who have gotten too used to having information at hand.
I think we as a community need to keep using the regular methods offered to us via democracy (like posting on this online forum) to express our wish that
a) We be told what the government is doing b) Express our displeasure at the direction the style of governance is going