Anonymous ISP Owner Speaks Out, As Feds Appeal Ruling Against Patriot Act
from the freedom-of-speech,-eh? dept
It will probably come as little surprise, but the Justice Depatment has now made it official that it plans to appeal the ruling that found that the parts of the Patriot Act that expanded the power of so-called "National Security Letters" was unconstitutional. The issue here is that the Justice Department has been using these letters to get private info from telcos, ISPs and others without any oversight. Beyond not even needing to get a judge's approval, the FBI has apparently been so disorganized that it tracks the use of these NSLs on index cards and has had trouble keeping track of how often they're used. Not surprisingly, a court found this all problematic, but the Justice Department continues to insist that it's just fine and dandy. In response, the anonymous small ISP owner who filed the original lawsuit has spoken out against the policy, noting that the gag order imposed on recipients of national security letters makes it "impossible... to discuss their specific concerns with the public, the press and Congress." He also stated: "This seems to be counterintuitive to everything I assumed about this country's commitment to free speech and the value of political discourse." Indeed. It's yet to be explained why there isn't any oversight here at all. Given the opportunity for abuse when there's no oversight, can someone give a good reason why these things should be allowed? They can be just as effective with a judge approving them. However, with no oversight and the corresponding gag order, it seems like an open playing field for abuse of the system. Given that the FBI can't even track how they're using these tools, it seems even more dangerous.
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Filed Under: national security letters, patriot act
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Usual Rant ver. 1
"You have nothing to fear, if you have done nothing wrong."
-PF
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Re: Usual Rant ver. 1
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ahem
but therein lies the problem, who defines "wrong"
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Taking the bait...
Power is power and when possible those that have it WILL abuse it to protect their own interests at some point.
This nation was built on checks and balances and this nonsense has to stop. It's nice to see that the little guy is fighting back. Interestingly, the big guys seem to be rolling over despite they are the ones that have the greater resources to push back.
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Re: Taking the bait...
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Pray that enough people in the US figure this out and fight back before it is too late.
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Re:
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Bad government
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Re: Bad government
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Re: Bad government
It's the politicians, not the bureaucrats (officials).
If they are in office - vote them out - every time. ONCE AND DONE!
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The US Constitution
--
Concealed Handgun == Your Civil Right
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Guess why filing cards...
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its ok...
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It's Up to Our Kids
Index cards? WTF. No oversight? WTF. Automatic abuse when you know that nobody is watching over your shoulder.
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Re: It's Up to Our Kids
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Funny thing is - they can get what they want from ISP's - and the ISP isn't allowed to talk about it. Ok, I see not talking about specifics - but what about in general?
Seems real shady to me.
I don't understand the warrant-less searches unless they are just a means of taking more rights from the citizens. After all - what judge wouldn't ok a warrant for a suspected terrorist?
"You have nothing to fear, if you have done nothing wrong."
And that's the biggest BS excuse for being lazy and not worrying about constitutional rights. After all: IT IS THE LAW THAT THEY HAVE TO HAVE A WARRANT.
Doing nothing, doing something, something to worry about, nothing to worry about - IT IS THE LAW that they have to obtain a warrant *if* they have probable cause.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
What part of that don't some people understand? Or are the new laws more important than the laws used in the founding of this nation, but OBVIOUSLY they are meaningless to some people.
To that: in FACT the Government IS breaking the law - and they still don't have anything to worry about. They go on preaching to me about 'doing nothing wrong' while they stomp and piss all over the constitution.
But I guess - I'm the horrible person - the 'nonconforming' person who thinks the constitution actually means something.
Sorry I was so very wrong! The Patriot Act has proven to protect us!! Unlike that ratty ol' Constitution - what good has that ever done anyone?
"They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
But that's ok - I guess we'll all get what's coming to us eventually. Sadly, it seems most people agree with this viewpoint....
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coup d'état
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appeal
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Nothing to fear
See Daniel Solvoe's excellent analysis of this bogus statement and its ilk at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=998565#PaperDownload
Essentially this statement makes the erroneous assumption that privacy is only for hiding wrongdoing.
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Re: Nothing to fear
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It's Unfortunate
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Gag Order
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Absolute Power corrupts Absolutely.
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It seems the Constitution...
But in the end, there will always be a resistance. You will never be able to track communication that is to be kept secret, as it flows from one's mouth to another's ear, from one underground movement to the next.
When things go out of hand, and people have had enough, that is when a community of the same mindset truly comes together, speaks out, and acts accordingly.
It was only a few hundred years ago when we did the same - against England.
Let us hope that our government has enough foresight to know this is truly a possibility; it is our one true check in a system of many unbalances.
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I really think
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BUT they got elected twice. (please don't go off on that!)
You wouldn't believe the immense percentage of our population that still believes in them, and who go red in the face at the mere hint of disagreement.
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while you were sleeping
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