Slashdot Mirror
U.S. Government Moves To Dismiss EFF Case
iny0urbrain writes "The New York Times reports that the US government has asked a federal judge to dismiss the Electronic Frontier Foundation's civil liberties lawsuit against the AT&T Corporation because 'of a possibility that military and state secrets would otherwise be disclosed.' The statement concludes by saying: 'Finally, because the United States intends to assert the state secrets privilege and file a dispositive motion to dismiss this action, the United States requests that discovery proceedings be deferred until the government's submission has been considered and heard.' You can view the full text of the government's statement of interest (PDF) on the EFF's website." Sorry, hadn't had my coffee yet this morning, and double posted this one. Sadly, the first one is a mere two stories down. It's also still pouring into the submissions bin, so I'm not the only one not yet awake.
How many cases against the government is the EFF running at the moment, and why is the government using the same "national security" excuse for all of them? On the other hand, I guess the "national security" excuse has worked pretty damn well in the past. It worked for billions of dollars spent on a war...
The security of the Motherland outweighs any and all privacy concerns.
--Brought to you by the Republican Proletariat.
What a load of rubbish.
Either you're trolling, or you have great difficulty distinguishing between reality and entertainment. Just because something is entertaining does not mean that it is something that is agreed with. These are two completely separate things.
How would you react to the fact that some people watch V for Vendetta, 24, 1984, and True Lies? Would your head explode?
You must be referring to the Republican war against our freedom.
The problem is shows that have a message. Don't lie, don't cheat, don't steal, and it's ok to fuck warrants because the other guy is guilty. I don't think I've ever seen a law enforcement show out of the USA where violating due process lead to innocents being screwed over but the reality is it happens all the time (weasel words, I don't know for sure but I'm guessing it's >0).
The point is these shows are ingraining "Don't restrict us, after all we only go after the guilty ones" into the mind of the viewing public.
I am one of many. My idea is not unique, nor do I expect my voice alone to sway you. I speak in a chorus of opinion.
.. when those being spied upon don't know it.
Now everyone bend over and shoot a moon....
First, the President has rights and responsibilities under Article 2 that gives him broad powers in times of conflict and war.
This assumes a war or conflict that can be ended. If it doesn't then the whole article is rubbish and those powers could just be given to the president in all situations, not just in case of war or conflict.
It is obvious that the current govenrment is doing all it can to define the conflict in such a way that it can never be ended, hence it is clear that this conflict is in fact being used to get around the consitution.
I am not trying to suggest that the current US government would follow any racial policies or such similar to the nazi party in Germany in the 1930s, but they are most definitely trying for the same kind of abuse of the democratic system to gather as much power as they can.
broad powers in times of conflict and war
And he went ahead and declared war on an abstract concept! We've always been at war with Eurasia, you know.
As the targets of the program are terrorist or their affiliates, no reasonable person could argue
Open source supports terrorism.
Copyright infrigement funds terrorism.
And most importantly: You can't ask who they're really spying on.
You can't take the sky from me...
Illegally spying on citizens isn't criminal?
the only reason this is a "civil" case, is cause the government is too corrupt to regulate it'self properly at this point.. it's left to the citizens to fight back, and unfortunetly, the only way is through "civil" law..
MABASPLOOM!