William Black, of the Journal Gazette, writes about the unnerving revelation that Verizon, Bell South and AT&T might have enabled the National Security Agency to monitor private calling patterns of 200 million Americans. Since the story came out, the Bells have chosen their words carefully when asked about the scope of their cooperation. For instance, Verizon says it has not turned over data on local calls to the NSA while AT&T says it has no contract with the NSA. But such comments do little to quell concerns that the Bells have enabled NSA to conduct what in the words of a former AT&T technician amounts to vacuum-cleaner surveillance of all the data crossing the Internet, whether e-mail, Web surfing or telephone calls. Many are asking whether, in exchange for letting the NSA monitor network traffic, the three Bell companies have sought significant benefits from the federal government. Have the telephone companies traded our rights to telephone privacy in return for government favors? And has Qw.. (full story @ BBR)

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