American Telephone Surveillance

Summary of Article: It has recently come out that the National Security Agency has been collecting telephone records on millions of Americans. This information was leaked by someone working for the organization. This collection was authorized by Congress, without the public's knowledge. Usually telephone data can only be gathered through subpoenas/going through a judge. NSA claims that the information was only phone numbers, times called, etc, not the actual conversations themselves.

Questions for Kids After Explaining Article:

• Why are some people upset to find out that the government has been collecting information on Americans? Why are some people not upset by this? 
• The NSA claims it was collecting the information in part to fight terrorism. How does collecting telephone information help track bad guys? 
• Why do some people prefer that that the government get a subpoena to obtain telephone records? Why does the government prefer to do it secretly? 
• Does it make a difference that the information collected was not the actual conversations themselves? 
• Do you think that what the government was doing was wrong or ok?