BEYOND THE JEERS

Phones, TVs... MICROWAVES? Record scratch... But what's the real takeaway?

Just on March 8, The Telegraph reported that Wikileaks' recent CIA document leak reveals that both the United States and the United Kingdom had developed ways to spy on people through their televisions -- even when they're off -- by using a fake "off" mode, among other tactics!

But we don't need Wikileaks to tell us that the government can collect surveillance on any American citizen simply by issuing a subpoena to the phone company. If you don't believe it, check out what happened to 20 AP reporters in 2013.

And many traditional media sources have reported on the fact that the NSA has not ended its bulk data collection, that there are still loopholes by which they can spy on U.S. citizens -- provided they are in a conversation with a suspicious person abroad, or from outside the United States.