all-encompassingly

Well, this is convenient.

Retroactive immunity from prosecution is a beautiful thing if you’re a major telecommunications provider in the US, and phone companies are about to receive it if the Bush administration gets its way. The administration’s new appropriations request for intelligence agencies was recently disclosed at a hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and it includes a massive gift to the phone companies who have been (can we drop the “allegedly” at this point?) helping the NSA and other agencies.

I’m all for tracking someone’s calls to a suspected terrorist cell in Saudi Arabia, but the blanket phone record stuff is off-the-charts big brotherish in my view.

Hat tip: Slashdot.