It all began with the Patriot Act. The Bush administration started prying into our personal information in an effort to detect early signs of domestic terrorist activity by looking at our private lives. From our library books to our prescription drugs, it all became free game for the government in passing judgment on whether or not we fit the mold of the ever-feared terrorist.

It's not over yet.

The Bush administration has begun looking for a needle in a haystack. With the help of several telephone agencies, the National Security Agency, or NSA, has been creating what is being called, according to an unidentified source in a USA Today article, the largest database in an effort to detect terrorist activity within the United States.

AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth have all been cooperating with the NSA, providing call logs without a warrant.

Without notifying their customers and again, without a warrant, these companies authorized the NSA to collect millions of call logs.

Although President Bush said the program was authorized to investigate only international calls, this does not stop the NSA from gaining access to records of domestic calls.

So, who's to blame?

While three prominent phone companies seem to have easily handed over detailed and telling information in the name of combating terrorism, another, Qwest, refused to participate with the NSA.

So far, Qwest is the only the big telecommunication company that has refused to help, and in doing so, has left a large hole in the NSA's database.

Despite the moral standard set by Qwest, their customers are not safe because AT&T and Verizon supply some services, including long-distance and wireless, to Qwest customers.

So the NSA is still being provided with some access to these customers' personal records.

If you feel sick to your stomach already, there's more.

While phone numbers are being supplied to the NSA, personal identifiers such as names, Social Security numbers and street addresses can't be included as part of the search. Despite this, the NSA already possesses vast data bases that can be used to connect phone numbers to personal information.

But who's to blame?

The Bush administration? Although this attempt to pry into U.S. citizens' private lives seems extreme, it's not very surprising given its attempts in the past, including the aforementioned Patriot Act.

What about the phone companies? Did you get a letter in the mail letting you know that in addition to paying your bill, your personal call log is being turned over to the NSA's database?

Whether you like it or not, your civil liberties are up for auction, and so far, the Bush administration is the highest bidder.