Domestic Wiretapping Programs Should Not Be Secret
from the oversight-needed dept
A whistle-blower reports that an unnamed wireless carrier has provided a government facility in Quantico, VA, with unfiltered access to its core network. The whistle-blower says this gives the government direct access to private information such as text messaging and call records. He doesn't name either the company or the government agency involved. But a 2006 lawsuit featuring similar allegations named Verizon Wireless as the culprit. And Threat Level says that Quantico, VA, just happens to be "the center of the FBI's electronic surveillance operations." When asked about this, a Verizon Wireless spokesman wrote "What you're talking about sounds as if it would be classified and involving national security, so I wouldn't be able to find out the facts."The idea that ordinary domestic surveillance activities are a matter of national security, and therefore immune from public scrutiny, is both wrong-headed and malicious. I guess the idea is that we don't want to tip off the terrorists about our surveillance programs. And obviously, information about specific targets needs to be kept secret. But the terrorists have to already know that most communications channels can be intercepted. Moreover, it's just not reasonable to expect that the broad details of our government's domestic surveillance activities will remain a secret indefinitely. Despite the secrecy, we're gradually learning about the scope of these programs. If terrorists didn't know their calls were being tapped five years ago, they certainly do now.
The problem is that because details about these programs (and information about abuses) dribble out slowly over several years, Congress never has the opportunity to conduct meaningful oversight of them. For example, this week we also found out that abuse of national security letters, which was previously only reported to have occurred from 2003 to 2005, continued into 2006. Of course, the administration says they've fixed the problem and that no more NSL abuses will occur. But that's what they always say when privacy abuses are uncovered, yet new examples keep popping up. The only way the abuses will stop is if Congress rejects the idea that domestic surveillance is immune from judicial and Congressional surveillance. The Bush administration needs to disclose the exact scope of its domestic surveillance activities so that Congress can have an open, public debate about the proper scope of government spying powers.
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Filed Under: federal government, oversight, secrecy, wiretaps
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Wake up you fn morons or it's going to be way to late, except of course your whining just before your fn head goes flying through the air...
Liberals and the media they control are the real enemies of freedom.
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Re:
Yeah...how dare they expose the fact that our government is violating the principles of freedom they're supposed to protect from terrorists.
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Technology vs. Privacy
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Re: Technology vs. Privacy
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Re:
So you would prefer that we treat all people like criminals, remove civil rights, and basically stamp out everything that the US stands for, over a program that has been shown to have little benefit and which would work just as well with oversight preventing many of the abuses?
Your logic is faulty and your reading comprehension is reprehensible. Tim makes a few things clear: (1) The benefit to keeping the programs secret is practically nil. (2) The abuses of the system as it stands are widespread.
How that leads you to conclude that the system works is beyond me. Tim is not saying don't fight the terrorists or don't use tools available. He's saying do it properly in a way that avoids abuses and is more effective. Why do you think this ineffective, abusive system is better than the other way?
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Re: Re: Technology vs. Privacy
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Good guys doing bad things
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Godwin's Law
Random para-military police officers constantly demanding to see your "papers" and jailing or shooting you if you fail to comply.
Every little step towards oppression brings us closer to eventual radical revolution by the oppressed. As soon as they realize their condition.
Like Abe said, "I used to think I had a really good job; but then I found out I was a slave."
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Simple, the good guys are the ones in the white hats.
So you would equate listening in on calls to flying a plane into a building?
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Re: Good guys doing bad things
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Missing the point
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The only information you have as to who is responsible is what you've been told.
Therefore, your query (as a statement) indicates only belief without proof, or "faith."
Do you really believe in your government?
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Re: Missing the point
This is the same lame excuse that the Bush administration gave us a year or two ago. Any criticism of their conduct "emboldened" the terrorists. It's called fear-mongering, and it's used to distract the public from the reality of what's happening - the circumvention of the Constitution.
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domestic wiretapping
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