Echelon Used to Capture Terrorist

An anonymous reader writes "Echelon was used to track and capture Khalid Sheikh Mohammed." Ahh, bitter sweet victories. The article kind of explains what Echelon is, and pretty much says that those disposable phones really don't have much security at all.

Comments

Too bad..

[CausticWindow]

for the rest of us that your government is so thorougly corrupt at all levels.

It's no big secret.

Re:Too bad..

[Elwood P Dowd]

Well, you got modded troll, but of course you're correct. If echelon were only used to eavesdrop on foreign spies and soldiers, that would be absolutely fine. However, that isn't all it's used for. It is well known that echelon has been used to give American companies advantages over foreign ones many times in the past. Dunno of any accusations in recent history, but they might just be getting better at covering it up.

Re:We can quibble,

[Loki_1929]

"except for any case involving the Second Amendment,"

I invite you to check here for the ACLU's word on the second amendment.

Essentially, the position of the ACLU is as follows:

They DO believe that the initial intent of the second amendment was to protect citizens against an oppressive regime. Here's the problem: to defeat a modern US military, you would need bazookas, F-15s, and nuclear weapons. Obviously, virtually no one honestly believes that every citizen has a Constitutional right to own their own F-15s and nuclear weapons. Therefore, the original intent of the framers goes out the window.

Next, while bazookas and nuclear weapons would certainly be considered arms, most people agree that private citizens just ought not be allowed to own them. At that point, you've agreed that the right of citizens to own arms has limits. Therefore, the ACLU concludes that those limits ought be set by the Congress and the Supreme Court, as they currently are.

The ACLU isn't against the second amendment, nor does it ignore the second amendment. The ACLU simply believes that the Congress and the Supreme Court have handled the matter in a perfectly reasonable matter to date, and therefore sees no reason to get involved. Aside from that, the NRA is at least as powerful as the ACLU, so it quite honestly isn't something the ACLU needs to devote a whole lot of resources to, considering the fact that there are other organizations that deal with the issue. If you agree with everything else the ACLU does, or even just some of it, join up and earmark all donations for the cause you're supporting. Some very conservative people have joined the ACLU lately, because it's at the forefront of defending our Constitution.