EFF Sues The Gov't Twice In One Day: Over Surveillance And ACTA
from the busy,-busy,-busy dept
The EFF sure has been busy today. First it filed a lawsuit against the US Trade Representative for keeping info on the ACTA negotiations secret, and then it sued the NSA, President Bush and Vice President Cheney over the warrantless wiretapping issue. Must be a busy day at the EFF office. In both cases, it seems likely that the lawsuits may draw some additional attention to the issues, but it seems unlikely to have much of an impact on actual government policies.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: acta, eff, government, lawsuits, nsa, surveillance, wiretapping
Companies: eff
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How can I help?
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Why not
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That is the beauty of America. Or
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Re: Why not
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Maybe...
Seriously, though, it will be interesting to see where this leads. Once Bush is out of office, he won't be nearly as untouchable in court, and this lawsuit will certainly drag on far longer than the remainder of his term. I would love to see him, and Cheney even more so, imprisoned for this. Again, I can dream, right?
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And if they hadn't done that, it would have made home loans much more difficult to get and pay for. Are you a homeowner? Would you vote for a government that did that to you?
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ARE YOU KIDDING! That is the point! That they have been too easy. Owning a home is a responsibility, not something that should be "traded up" every few years.
And because they where too easy, it has over inflated their value. A simple but NICE house where I live is now over $400k! Considering my parents perched there land (two acres work) and home for just UNDER $40k just 25 years ago, don't you think that is outrageous?
Point being, there is a major "correction" coming, and unfortunately a lot of good people are going to get stiffed. If the fed hadn't done a nee-jerk reaction of lowering the interest rates by like 4% in such a short time years ago we would be having a simple slow down (ya that would suck too) right now rather than a massive crash. Sorry, a home should not cost four hundred thousand bloody dollars! It pisses me off.
Infact, I wouldn't call it a crash now that I think about it. Every few years one industry is over inflated and then "pops". First it was the rail roads, and in most resent times it was the .COM industry. But with each "pop" it leaves us with the strongest of the pack left over, and a built out and well developed infrastructure. Maybe we need to look at this as a natural cycle if you will.
Ok, I will stop talking now.
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Hasn't this been done?
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/nsaspying/35942prs20080710.html
What's the difference? Or are they just running two lawsuits on the same thing? If that's the case, wouldn't it maybe be better for them to just kinda work on it together?
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Personally, I don't believe it ever should have been allowed to reach this point. But, since our policies have been to allow them to run free, we can't provide a safety net. Allowing a company to use those greedy, short-sighted practices that aren't good for anyone, and then bailing them out, sets a horrible precedent and creates a market incentive for greed and failure.
Harder to get a home loan? Maybe. I WAS a homeowner, and I was one of those people who shouldn't have been. At the time we bought the house, my wife and I could not reasonably afford it. We thought we could, because we paid more for rent. What we did not understand was the huge ongoing costs of maintenance and property tax. We did not lose the house, but we came close. We managed to sell in the nick of time. It is not every American's right to own a home. The "ease" of getting a home loan has been the biggest financial curse we have encountered, worse even than college credit cards. If those policies have to change so that only those who can actually afford a house are able to get it, then so be it. The "ease" of getting a mortgage is exactly what put us (the country, not just me personally) in this economic crisis to begin with.
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Re: Hasn't this been done?
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