Why isn't the NYT breaking this story?
"After a lengthy lawsuit, the ACLU forced the Justice Department to disclose so-called "pen register" and "trap and trace" records, which were released yesterday. ... The documents show that the use of this sort of surveillance by federal law enforcement agencies, which does not require a search warrant, has rapidly increased in recent years. Between 2009 and 2011 alone, the number of orders for pen and trap authorizations increased by 60 percent—from 23,535 in 2009 to 37,616 in 2011. The increase is even more striking when compared with older figures. Between 2001 and 2011, for instance, there was a sixfold increase—from 5,683 original orders recorded in 2001 to the 37,616 in 2011. What that means is that more people were subjected to pen register and trap and trace surveillance in the past two years than in the entire previous decade, as ACLU’s Naomi Gilens has pointed out."