It's all about marketing!

I'm not a big fan of amnesty for the telecoms and based on this, it looks like it's going to happen (Where are you Chris Dodd?) But you know what makes it OK? Good marketing:




The Billboard Liberation Front has taken upon itself the task of getting this new message out there about what a burden it is keeping secrets from the government. From their press release:

AT&T initially downplayed its heroic efforts in the War on Terror, preferring to serve in silence behind the scenes. “But then we realized we had a PR win on our hands,” noted AT&T V.P. of Homeland Security James Croppy. “Not only were we helping NSA cut through the cumbersome red tape of the FISA system, we were also helping our customers by handing over their e-mails and phone records to the government. Modern life is so hectic – who has time to cc the feds on every message? It’s a great example of how we anticipate our customers’ needs and act on them. And, it should be pointed out, we offered this service free of charge.”

But what was really telling was the NSA's comment:

Commenting on the action, and responding to questions about pending privacy litigation and the stalled Congressional effort to shield the telecoms from these lawsuits, NSA spokesperson [REDACTED] remarked: “[REDACTED] we [REDACTED] condone [REDACTED] warrantless [REDACTED], [REDACTED] SIGINT intercepts, [REDACTED] torture [REDACTED] information retrieval by [REDACTED] means necessary.”

And that's all there needs to be said about that.

Pilfered from The Crossed Pond