Sobriety Checkpoints Paved Path to NSA Email Spying
Source: Wired
Sobriety checkpoints and mandatory drug testing of student athletes and railroad workers are among the legal precedents justifying the U.S. governments now-defunct and court-approved secret email metadata dragnet surveillance program, according to documents the authorities released late Monday.
The thousands of pages of records the President Barack Obama administration unveiled include the nations first opinion from a secret tribunal authorizing the government to obtain data from the to, from, cc, and bcc fields of all emails to thwart terrorist attacks.
This concern clearly involves national security interests beyond the normal need for law enforcement and is at least as compelling as other governmental interests that have been held to justify searches in the absence of individualized suspicion, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, then the presiding judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, wrote in an opinion (.pdf) believed dated in 2004.
(The 87-page opinion is heavily redacted, including its date. But parsed with other documents in the data dump, experts believe the opinion is dated July 2004. Because the opinion is repeatedly blacked out, it is unclear whether the order authorizes broader internet data collection.)...
Read more: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/11/nsa-web-metadata/
villager
(26,001 posts)... and getting Americans to grovelingly accept it.
Indi Guy
(3,992 posts)...let alone the mission drift into the e-dragnet.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)not to mention an over-active paranoid glandular condition....
how can these people walk into any venue and say this stuff with a straight face?
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)What percentage of Americans do they think is involved in terrorism?
I don't know anyone like that. I can't imagine it.
I would like answers to those questions. Until I get good ones, I will believe that the program is simply a way for companies that can collect the metadata and other data they get to take tax revenue that should go to schools, real police work (like walking or driving the beat), healthcare and the many, many other things we need.
Somebody probably said to the Bush administration, "Look what we can do. Isn't that amazing? Let's use this technology. Wouldn't you like to snoop on everybody in America and pick out your political rivals for special scrutiny?"
Why else would they snoop like that?
It's ridiculous.
djean111
(14,255 posts)the purpose of "countering terrorism" and now is just a snooping extravaganza, storing everything so the data can be used at will for all kinds of purposes. And yes - this is sucking up money that could be used elsewhere. They know that, and do not care.
PeoViejo
(2,178 posts)Is the new Countering Communism
before that, it was Countering Fascism
and on and on...
There always has to be a Bogeyman....
Indi Guy
(3,992 posts)- How it works:
- First & foremost -- Invoke 9/11 (gotta get that emotional appeal in there).
- Shake the trees 'till a few terrorists fall out.
- Exaggerate their crimes (& maybe commit a couple more doozies your own)
- Ramp up the rhetoric machine against the inflated or non-existsant boogie men ...creating an atmosphere of fear.
- Then shake down We The People for $billions, while simultaniously swindling us out of our Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms ...all in the name and under the cover of "national security."
It's actually quite an elegant scheme in its simplicity, with the rubric of "national security" supplying the both the necessary secrecy as well as the plausable deniability. But it's nonetheless a massive protection racket.
christx30
(6,241 posts)Indi Guy
(3,992 posts)...When the Rule of Law disappears, we are ruled by the whims of men.
― Tiffany Madison
olddad56
(5,732 posts)Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)And I know the times I have been caught in one of these driving traps that the cops know I despise their NAZI-istic tactics. I can tell from the looks on their faces that they feel my contempt even even though I cooperate and don't say a word. And no, I don't use the NAZI reference easily but these stops can't be described any other way. I despise all of the stops but especially the "show me your papers" license stops!
And don't even get me started on the "give me your specimen" before you can work here policies. I have and will never willingly be drug tested for a friggen job.
Why did people ever willingly give up all our rights?
djean111
(14,255 posts)Tell me THAT info is not being stored somewhere.
LibDemAlways
(15,139 posts)setting up "show me your papers" roadblocks on the main thoroughfare. They set up signs that say "Right lane closed ahead. Survey crew at work" as a subterfuge - a total lie. Then they pull over every gardener's truck and vehicle driven by anyone who appears to be Hispanic. Total and complete bullshit.
Indi Guy
(3,992 posts)With each "little" infringement on our rights, the momentum swings ever so slightly toward major intrusions.
The NRA got one thing right i.e, nip every potential threat in the bud -- no matter how seemingly miniscule.
Indi Guy
(3,992 posts)It shows objectivity & class.
TroglodyteScholar
(5,477 posts)Right???
Indi Guy
(3,992 posts)Well, maybe (depending on your sense of humor).
It's a real document as presented in the article, but it's also pretty humorous (the spooks might find it funnier than we do).