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Wiretap Ruling Threatens Telecoms
ches_grin writes "Yesterday's ruling on the NSA warrantless wiretapping program could mean that businesses that assisted in the program are in for some serious legal problems. The judge's decision clearly dismissed out of hand the arguments of the telecoms, saying that the protections due journalists and lawyers was a clear matter of the public's best interests." From the article: "Businesses accused of aiding the Bush administration in wiretapping could also be in for a legal bruising, say civil liberties groups that have sued telecom providers AT&T, Verizon, and BellSouth for allegedly helping the NSA. The ruling could set a precedent other courts can't ignore. 'Every phone company that is assisting the government in its illegal surveillance would want to think long and hard before it continues that agreement,' says Ann Beeson, the ACLU's lead attorney in the case. 'There are already lawsuits claiming that their cooperation for the past several years is illegal and now that the judge has declared it is illegal, their liability increases. The risk is much greater from a business perspective.'"
...why their wasn't more outrage,
Novel Concept: So's your spelling/grammar. It's there (as in 'out there') not their, a third person personal pronoun (as in 'their rights').
Try using some common sense. They were intercepting phone calls from people with known links to Al Quaeda. Your attitude is sophmoric and absurd and I'll bet it will take someone close to you to get hurt before you realize it (did YOU know anybody that got killed in 9/11?, I did).
The British police have far more power than the American police (even WITH the patriot act). They no longer need to get court orders and neither should we. And guess what, they are effective. Why? Because they already learned the lessons you refused to with 20 years of the IRA. Your way doesn't work. There are ample examples of its failure.
The real absurdity here is that the idiot judge in the lawsuit didn't even require that the accuser prove they had actually been tapped. The judge ruled on "feelings". A bunch of reporters and lawyers "felt" they were being wiretapped. That is ridiculous. Looking for a branch of government that abuses its power, look no further than the judicial.
Why don't you guys go and make life difficult for an actual bad guy and not people trying to protect you for once.
-I
While I don't agree with a lot of what the Bush administration does, do you honestly think they Kerry administration would have been better? Right now we'd have the UN making all our decisions for us... that's a scary thought.
The only fault I see with the Bush administration is that they didn't go back and get the court orders (even though I seriously doubt international phone calls fall under the jursidiction of FISA). There is one thing that, if it has occurred, I'll join your call for impeachment immediately. If they have intercepted phone calls within the United States between two citizens without a warrant, then he needs to be impeached.
Until I see that, you need to get your head out of your theoretical ass and go to the ruins of the World Trade Center for a while.
Cliff Claven
K.E.G. Party Chairman
Founding Leader of: Koncerned for Egalitarin Governance
Of course, with the MOD system and a hefty majority of Moon Bats at this site, slashdot becomes a haven of liberals to talk amongst themselves and high-five each other...
Well, guess you guys can celebrate in the echo chamber. You won't bother to follow up when the Supreme court tosses the ruling in the bin... nor will you follow up when the 2006 / 2008 elections continue to show that damaging the NSA is not a big "winner" among the populace.
But of course, you ivory tower slashdotter keep telling yourselves you are winning. Its perfect. It keeps you from asking the truly hard questions about why your way of thinking is such a fringe one...
Here's some estimated numbers I just randomly made up off the top of my head of /. users ...
Democrats - 40%
Independants - 55%
Republicans - 5%
Anti-Bush - 97%
Pro-Bush - 3%
Do not believe in a God - 90%
Believe in a God - 10%
Against the War on Terror - 85%
For the War on Terror - 15%
Believe Sadam had no WMD's - 95%
Believe Sadam has WMD's - 5%
Blame Bush for everything wrong in America - 95%
Blame someone else - 5%
Would move to Europe given the chance - 70%
Would stay in America - 30%
Would join the US Military in WWIII - 1%
Would do everything to avoid it - 99%
Believe it would be better to live in Canada - 85%
Do not - 15%
Anybody agree/disagree with my estimates? Oh, and what are the odds that I'll be trolled? I'd say 99.9%
They have reduced education and social spending (mostly through crippling unfunded mandates). They have left the science budget the same but selectively trimmed spending on some subjects e.g. Global Warming.
You are either clueless, or making this up.
Education spending has shot up under the Bush administration.... as has social welfare spending.
But when it comes to spying on Americans and invading others no amount is too high and no law apparently can stand.
So, to summarize, you disagree with the policy, and don't understand the law.
This isn't flamebait, I'm being serious,
No you aren't being serious. You are getting things wrong that are trivial to get right.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell