New Delhi, March 12 -- Many years ago, while I was on a phone call with a colleague in the US, he loudly proclaimed mid-call, that he was a patriot who had served his country's military "just to be clear for the Great Recorder of all phone calls". Needless to say, I was intrigued by his behaviour. My interlocutor had been mildly critical of the US' then immigration policy for skilled technical workers, but had said nothing out of the ordinary, and nothing which had not already been reported to the press. When I pressed him on why he had interrupted the conversation with his proclamation, he replied that he suspected that the US government had access to all phone calls made from or to the US....