House and Senate Reject E-mail Surveillance

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House and Senate Reject E-mail Surveillance

Posted by timothy on Wednesday February 12, 2003 @10:06AM from the sweet-of-them dept.

vena writes "The Star Tribune reports the House and Senate today agreed not to allow email surveillance of American citizens proposed by the Total Information Awareness program. Additionally, negotiators agreed to halt all future funding on the program without extensive consultation with Congress."

22 of 260 comments (clear)

Excellent news! by grub · 2003-02-12 10:08 · Score: 5, Funny

Does this mean I can stop using PGP?

--
Trolling is a art,
1. Re:Excellent news! by twoallbeefpatties · 2003-02-12 11:09 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  I think it means you don't have to type in l33t with hotmail. "Dude, send me that last letter back in English. They're not watching us anymore."
  
  --
  Libertarians somehow believe that private businesses should be stronger than governments but weaker than individuals.
About time... by pla · 2003-02-12 10:08 · Score: 2, Funny

Yay! The good guys finally win one.

Suck on that, herr Ashcroft...
1. Re:About time... by I+am+Emmitt+Smith · 2003-02-12 11:24 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  amen
  
  --
  *The Bill of Rights - void where prohibited by law
On second thought... by mekkab · 2003-02-12 10:09 · Score: 5, Funny

I guess even they couldn't stomach the idea of reading other people's spam.

Too bad, they could have compared prices on herbal viagra.

--
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
I guess their... by Xandar01 · 2003-02-12 10:10 · Score: 2, Funny

personal emails may be a little to spicy.

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Life moves pretty fast; if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. -FB
Sense at last by Herby+Werby · 2003-02-12 10:12 · Score: 5, Funny

all your mail are not belong to us
Nice by creative_name · 2003-02-12 10:12 · Score: 3, Funny

Finally! The black car in front of my house is going to leave!

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Posting as directed.
Thank god... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-02-12 10:14 · Score: 5, Funny

I was worried about people seeing my love letters to CowboyNeal. That he NEVER RESPONDS TO
the best part about this story by vena · 2003-02-12 10:19 · Score: 2, Funny

is that i can't spell AT ALL and the editors fixed all my mistakes :)
Re:Skewed perspective? by joebagodonuts · 2003-02-12 10:24 · Score: 5, Funny

I liked this quote better:

"Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., senior Democrat on the subcommittee, said of the program, "Jerry's against it, and I'm against it, so we kept the Senate amendment." Of the Pentagon, he said, "They've got some crazy people over there."

No shit.

--
"Give a woman two glasses of wine and some pad thai, and they'll agree to just about anything." the Sports Guy
What I really want to know is... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-02-12 10:26 · Score: 5, Funny

[text removed by line eater v9.3 - thanks for shopping with the NSA!]
Re:Meanwhile... by jazman_777 · 2003-02-12 10:34 · Score: 2, Funny

But hey, anything goes as long as you can make the public vagely believe, or even not dispute too much, that it'll help them get Osama Bin Laden.
Who? Didn't Hussein blow up the Maine, shoot Archduke Ferdinand, stage the Munich Beer Hall Putsch, invade Poland, sneak attack Pearl Harbor, drop nukes on Japan, invade South Korea, cause the Gulf of Tonkin incident, run drugs into the US via Columbia, blow up the Marine barracks in Beirut, and shoot down TWA 800?

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Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
Does this mean I can stop running spook? by Rocko+Bonaparte · 2003-02-12 10:48 · Score: 5, Funny

All of my friends have been asking me why I keep randomly throwing spy USCOI Mena bluebird virus Sears Tower electronic surveillance Vince Foster White Water ASPIC industrial espionage Semtex CBNRC Mossad Juiliett Class Submarine all these strange words into my emails. It's from spook, a military asset class struggle AUTODIN Mafia MDA genetic cryptographic South Africa Crypto AG keyhole Rubin Medco eavesdropping Chobetsu little emacs script that adds high-risk words to my emails. The theory is, the extra traffic of false-positives will overwhelm any Steve Case North Korea Cohiba computer terrorism PGP SCUD missile AIMSX ARPA CISU arrangements class struggle chameleon man ISEC security espionage effort by the government to gamma Uzi FIPS140 bemd assassinate CDMA ANDVT Elvis USCODE 22nd SAS threat Bletchley Park colonel industrial espionage csystems monitor email traffic.

Does that mean I can stop doing this now? My coworkers think I chameleon man SWAT PGP JFK ANZUS top secret Cohiba USCODE Delta Force ASDIC virus assassination Noriega World Trade Center cryptanalysis have Tourettes.

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No I'm not trolling.
Re:TIA clothing available... by Senjutsu · 2003-02-12 10:51 · Score: 3, Funny

Including Total Information Awareness thongs...

When they say they want to know everything, they mean Everything.
Darn it all! by Iakona · 2003-02-12 10:51 · Score: 5, Funny

I was hoping to send some nice emails in arabic like:

Jihad to Microsoft! Linux has risen in an explosive blaze of fury! I like VX works. Food tastes good with ricin it. Death to BUSH using new hedge trimmers. 90% off swedish made penis enlargers! (Which is what they're really looking for)

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I'm not a real doctor, but I recommend beer.
So Ashcroft wants to read my email? by jmorse · 2003-02-12 11:02 · Score: 2, Funny

If he really wants to read my email, I'm going to sign up for all the pr0n spam I can get. Let that puritanical a$$hole freak show and his Christian Soldiers(TM) sort through all the live cams, teen fetishes, fisting sessions, and goatse.cx pics they can get :)

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"You done taken a wrong turn."
-Bill McKinney, in Deliverance
In a word . . . by The+Angry+Mick · 2003-02-12 11:16 · Score: 5, Funny

-----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----
qANQR1DBwU4DFRm5nWRHfUAQCACvS5Q/HAkmsluEsbKSFhwvoK T8/qTNhyumTtQ3 qiROtkgFWoHI7hEzNBx8EBi+ckDUh6LHwhbMEvaRHrgCpCwOQU NJtGODdRRkC9Sp vGVToEJBsxTNEWFB6uKqxh8wZmzwCNY9f8ZZ8MF0LNbkRHsv0i T+4hVf9S3e5N4r GQZBf0vaBgcI/JeC2pnQxiPgxXm/GMhuDlAwPzTZzHxRSvXaJL XSQ2hd6d1FZ204 6za1gkqAE7kK/ewJNKAdJ+bDaapgXEvI72sLNVZp4Vr+xbdM9d mstUCzf3lWxLrc 2yajd3dAR4IvtgPlVocWQ0UHkhKQ+0u+aFaVDS8xb0Rm+DpcB/ 9atVjsBhkjGxrs GacSLX2KKlRhWDvHwwjc4iUPvKCpQ6Ksl2BJZL/pwzoPE1RpB7 70pj37VGHTCAZs Xocqbsmu+0oauT/ZMvzIvZR3QbopiEVLT3eBfp7mZBTfVYIkZh acPD9UQjoIzFNa F/n7QdZrx1jdtITBB7ywr3gkPTdbOOz2leXyETJ6b65Z8gb83f DDec/CMM8Va3av uIczXvBXcYEVE01IZL+m17E0aXSbqE9iBPoXpGuMSoeLZjyJMJ BKDfLMu/nCj2Pc NQjT7j4ElprPpmAeenEVguXvWMW2lZ9jDmy3U0a9eAgnh4VSpt X+ReIf5emolQBR 4zo3VVNRySDViNTepXLCysx3UFp7NrId2BlujK+Gwn6wxLJCVt 6HBA== =yw4b
-----END PGP MESSAGE-----
No.

--
I'm not tense. I'm just terribly, terribly, alert.
1. Re:In a word . . . by Anonymous Coward · 2003-02-12 11:38 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  It took that much junk just to say "No." in PGP? What a crappy language. Worse than perl.
2. Re:In a word . . . by Anonymous Coward · 2003-02-12 11:57 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Yeah, but it's slightly more readable than Perl at least.
I don't get what the big deal is... by Not+Quite+Jake · 2003-02-12 11:40 · Score: 3, Funny

I really don't get it when it comes to the big fuss over this Total Information Awareness. The structure to do it is already in place and it comes in two forms, AOL and AIM. All the government has to do is set up an account, add everyone to their buddy list and hire some goons to check away messages, you always know where people are by their away messages. How easy is this, and it's free too!
yeah, but... by interactive_civilian · 2003-02-12 13:13 · Score: 4, Funny

Smallpond said:
Maybe they can find a good military officer, a colonel maybe, to make those reports to Congress.
Sounds like a great idea, but what if he panics???
;)

--
"Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks