NSA update

This from USA Today:

A last-minute deal Tuesday with Vice President Cheney averted a possible confrontation between the Senate Judiciary Committee and U.S. telephone companies about the National Security Agency's database of customer calling records.

The deal was announced by Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the committee chairman, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. They said Cheney, who plays a key role supervising NSA counterterrorism efforts, promised that the Bush administration would consider legislation proposed by Specter that would place a domestic surveillance program under scrutiny of a special federal court.

In return, Specter agreed to postpone indefinitely asking executives from the nation's telecommunication companies to testify about another program in which the NSA collects records of domestic calls.

God. Damn. It.

Why will this administration refuse to even talk about it?

The only possible reason I can see is that they know it is illegal, and they know that it is obviously so. If not, why not let the congress, the courts, even in closed session study this thing?

Surely it would be better to suffer an investigation now, with a sympathetic Republican congress, then potentially risk the almost certain investigation in the events that the Democrats are successful in the fall?

This baffles me. Shame on Specter.

On a completely different tack but no less ass-tastic is this asinine move:

But the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said Juke Box had offered a level of interactvity that breached its licence.

Tiscali Juke Box, which launched in April, was a legal peer-to-peer service where songs could be listened to but not copied or downloaded, and royalties were paid for "non-interactive rights" to songs.

However the IFPI decided Tiscali "was paying to offer one type of service but was actually offering another very different one".
"Consumers were allowed a high degree of interactivity that breached these rules in many ways - for example, streaming individual tracks on demand," it said.

Breached its license by offering too much interactivity?

This makes my head hurt. These companies seem to want to fail. When the illegal downloading sites offer a product that is better and more reliable than the legal version, you know you have a problem.

Too much interactivity? I'm sorry to rant but this makes my head spin. You have to give the customers what they want, and in this day and age, customers want complete control. Won't let users search by artist? What dumbass thought that one up?