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FBI Planning New Net-Tapping Push
Section_Ei8ht writes to tell us CNet is reporting that the FBI is pushing for legislation to allow law enforcement officials free access to networking gear via built in backdoors for eavesdropping. From the article: "Jim Harper, a policy analyst at the free-market Cato Institute and member of a Homeland Security advisory board, said the proposal would 'have a negative impact on Internet users' privacy. People expect their information to be private unless the government meets certain legal standards,' Harper said. 'Right now the Department of Justice is pushing the wrong way on all this.'"
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Has the memory of 9/11 faded that much? You are outright wrong. Facism was born of Germany's humiliation in WWI, weak democractic institutions, and a widespread, simmering hatred of Jews, not of government "inefficiency". Prior to 9/11 the cockroaches to plotted to attack the US did so in the kind of open environment you seem to want to restore. They used our openness and their freedom to be anonymous as a weapon. Terrorism starts when the government neglects its responsibilities to protect citizens.
an ill wind that blows no good
Nice analogy. However if someone in your family murders you, frankly no one else gives a damn.
As oppossed to, say, a few thousand people getting killed at the same time and witnessed by people around the globe. People who then wonder, can I even count on being safe going to work in the morning. Financial markets that then wonder, exactly how resilient is this supposed super power. Industry leaders who then wonder, maybe I should scale back hiring and investment because who knows what's going to happen next.
So all things considered, the two are not the same and the consequences of one are much greater and reach much further than the other. Thankfully, outside of Slashdot, the nation is not populated by chicken littles and people are willing to take a slight reduction in privacy/anonymity in return for an increased liklihood that the government will be able to prevent more attacks. People also have enough common sense to realize that this is not a dictatorship, GW and friends will be out of power in a few more years, and our system of government will - as it always has - correct what some see as the excesses of current policy.
By the way, facism starts when the populace has its involvement in political life curtailed. The first shadow of the future police states was cast by the policies of Czarist Russia. It was not the czars overreaction to domestic terrorism that spawned it, it was the systematic denial of political involvement to the Russian citizenry for centuries. There have and always will be enemies of the state, and it is foolish to think that they are falsehoods perpetuated by those in power. The key to preventing facism is an engaged citizenry with the political ability to curtail the overreaction of the government when faced with these enemies.
Despite what many here think, we do have a politically active citizenry. How active and what sort of changes they can affect in a two party system is another discussion entirely. Nontheless, just because people are willing to accept what the government is doing does not make them sheep. It means they disagree with your (paranoid) point of view. That is perhaps the most fundamental right of all.
Umm, isn't that the root cause of the controversy?
More like I write it ;)
Oh, that is a real consolation! Liberals are amusing. Your point is irrelevent. Prevention is all that matters. What good is the ability to reconstruct the plot after 3000 people are disintegrated? Could you imagine running for office with such a policy. "Yes, the Sears tower was destroyed but hey, we identified the terror cell of the attackers." That'll sure to get you reelected, not! It would probably land you in jail.
an ill wind that blows no good
what patronising garbage. How can you hope to make a point when you're so insulting? You have no idea who I am or what I believe.
If this is your way of spreading an idea (and I think blackboxvoting is a worthy endeavour) you have a long way to go.
spoonerize "magic trackpad"
The tendency for self-loathing among liberals is too much to fathom. Thanks goodness that your kind does not hold power.
an ill wind that blows no good