After privacy advocates delayed the plan for several months, the US federal government is moving ahead with plans to spy on its own citizens.

Last fall, senior Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee asked the department to put the program on hold until there was a clear legal framework of how the program would operate. This request came during an ongoing debate over the rules governing eavesdropping on phone calls and e-mails of suspected terrorists inside the United States.

The new plan explicitly states that existing laws which prevent the government from spying on citizens would remain in effect, the official said. Under no circumstances, for instance, would the program be used to intercept verbal and written conversations.

What is going to happen when the terrorist that the government is pursuing turns out to be an American citizen?

…the availability of satellite images will be expanded to other agencies to support the homeland security mission. The details of how law enforcement agencies could use the images during investigations would be determined in the future after legal and policy questions have been resolved, the official said.

It is possible that in the future an agency might request infrared imaging of what is inside a house, for instance a methamphetamine laboratory, and this could raise constitutional issues. In these instances, law enforcement agencies would still have to go through the normal process of obtaining a warrant and satisfying all the legal requirements. The National Applications Office also would require that all the laws are observed when using new imaging technology.

So, they are saying now that they will have to jump through the current legal hoops, but in the future they are hoping to change that so that any suspect can be put under the terrorism flag and be hauled in for questioning.  Too bad they’ve already violated the “we won’t use it on our own citizens” before.  See Ted Kaczynski for a good example.

Still, we don’t know if these privacy issues have been resolved or just swept under the carpet.  It’s likely that it’s been swept away and most Americans placated enough that they’ve turned back to the latest incarnation of American Idol and no longer care what’s happening.