(This is an entire series of articles on privacy. You would do well to read them all: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15199819/ ) -

"After the November election, Congress will return to Washington for a "lame duck" session and take another look at the president's domestic surveillance program. One bill has passed the House and others are pending in the Senate. The administration has appealed a court decision which said that the program violates federal privacy law and the Constitution. And the Supreme Court's end of term opinion in Hamdan makes clear that the president's claims of unlimited authority will be a non starter.

This is an important debate for Congress and the public but critical information about the effectiveness of the wiretap program, the cost, and the impact on privacy is simply not available. As the administration has expanded its monitoring of the American public, it has pulled a shroud of secrecy around its own surveillance activities."