'modest encroachments'

[Danzig]

http://news.yahoo.com/-why-does-obam...201343244.html

The court order allowing the government to inspect all Verizon phone records was slated to be declassified on April 12, 2038, when today’s political leaders had passed from the stage and were beyond political accountability. Until then, American citizens were supposed to have no way of knowing that the NSA knew when they were good (phoning Grandma for six minutes on her birthday) and when they were bad (arranging an adulterous rendezvous with a 19-minute call to an ex-girlfriend from the office).

Instead, in a major rebuke to Obama’s reputation as a purported defender of civil liberties, the Guardian, the British newspaper, published a top-secret court order Wednesday night that requires Verizon to provide the NSA with access to all of its phone logs. In one of the more chilling passages in the four-page document, Verizon is not allowed “to disclose to any other person that the FBI or NSA has sought or obtained tangible things under this Order.”

[Danzig]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/s...221024826.html

Did Director of National Intelligence James Clapper mislead Congress in March when he denied that the National Security Agency intentionally collects any type of data at all on millions of Americans? Judge for yourself.

It certainly looks bad. The revelation that the NSA secretly vacuumed up the telephone records of millions of Verizon customers would seem to fit the definition of "data" and "millions of Americans."

Clapper is denying that he misled anyone, telling the National Journal in a telephone interview: "What I said was, the NSA does not voyeuristically pore through U.S. citizens' e-mails. I stand by that."

[Honu]

All in the name of protecting us....yeah right, it BS.

[dellinger63]

Originally Posted by Honu

All in the name of protecting us....yeah right, it BS.

But take my gun(s).

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by dellinger63

But take my gun(s).

based on your posts the other day in the thread about the dna, i'm surprised you're not applauding these illegal searches.

[Danzig]

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_a...overnment.html

“The people who set up this program didn’t intend to be malevolent,” he said. “It’s capacity-driven. We have this enormous capacity to collect and sort data. We do this because we can, and because it’s the one area where the government can really overmatch its terrorist adversaries.”

The problem is what happens incrementally. “What now seems extraordinary is soon accepted as normal, and becomes the baseline for the future,” Jenkins said. “Over a period of time, this baseline shifts, and these new intrusions accumulate and reinforce one another—and that fundamentally changes things.”

This dynamic has taken hold in many liberal democracies during crises and wars. “In the past, at the end of the emergency, the balance has shifted back and a lot of those powers were ended,” he said. “But we’re in a situation now that doesn’t have a finite ending. If there isn’t an end, then these powers accumulate and accumulate and accumulate. This is a fundamental difference. What we put in place becomes a permanent part of the landscape.

“We are driven,” he continued, “by fears of what might happen, not by things that have happened.” He noted that since Sept. 11, 2001, there have been 42 terrorist plots in the United States. All but four of them were halted. Three of those succeeded and killed a total of 17 people. “Not that this isn’t a tragedy,” he said, “but, really, in a society that has 15–16,000 homicides every year, it isn’t a lot.

[bigrun]

Originally Posted by Danzig

based on your posts the other day in the thread about the dna, i'm surprised you're not applauding these illegal searches.

This one's for dell..

[dellinger63]

Originally Posted by bigrun

This one's for dell..

Wouldn't let me open. Virus/malware? LMAO

[dellinger63]

Originally Posted by Danzig

based on your posts the other day in the thread about the dna, i'm surprised you're not applauding these illegal searches.

Arrest equals taking DNA/fingerprints not just being alive. Small difference I know

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by dellinger63

Arrest equals taking DNA/fingerprints not just being alive. Small difference I know

you're wrong. making a mass search to find suspicious activity is no different from checking one person, without probable cause, for the same thing. you are not being consistent. you either have to have cause, or you don't. a judge did not sign off on king, but did on the phone records. is king a criminal? yes. are some verizon customers probably criminal? yes.