Slashdot Mirror
Technical Risks of the US Protect America Act
A group of respected security researchers has released a paper on the security holes that would be opened up if a broad warrantless wiretapping law is passed. The subject could hardly be more timely, as Congress is debating the subject now. Steve Bellovin, Matt Blaze, Whit Diffie, Susan Landau, Peter Neumann, and Jennifer Rexford have released a preprint of Risking Communications Security: Potential Hazards of the Protect America Act (PDF), which will appear in the January/February 2008 issue of IEEE Security and Privacy. It will hit the stands in a few weeks. From Matt Blaze's blog posting: "As someone who began his professional carrier in the Bell System (and who stayed around through several of its successors), the push for telco immunity represents an especially bitter disillusionment for me. Say what you will about the old Phone Company, but respect for customer privacy was once a deeply rooted point of pride in the corporate ethos. There was no faster way to be fired (or worse) than to snoop into call records or facilitate illegal wiretaps, well intentioned or not. And it was genuinely part of the culture; we believed in it, even those of us ordinarily disposed toward a skeptical view of the official company line. Now it all seems like just another bit of cynical, focus-group-tested PR."
The only thing that we can do is look at material like this and make sure that we communicate these points to those who represent us. It's only natural to be cynical about the likelihood of making a difference with your call, but unless you take that action we'll never know if we could stop this thing.
Regards, Ian
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
As a bonus, pass a law giving evil men immunity.
You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
Comment removed based on user account deletion
~ I am logged on, therefore I am.
--James Baldwin
Don't mind the extra X. Alex
unfortunately you got the right impression. living/working in Albany, NY I get to see a lot of this with friends that work in (state) senators' offices, nothing ever gets to them without being filtered and they already know where they stand on bigger issues and outright ignore their constituents unless the media gets involved (like spitzer and his give illegals drivers licenses thing)
heck I've written our 'good' senator Schumer a number of times on big issues and all you ever get back is a form letter written by an office intern, no big deal there but you have to know he never reads any of those emails, they get read by the same intern and if you're lucky he summarizes a few of them to his boss later.
My Sig Sucks
One more document showing privacy = security.
"Now it [privacy] all seems like just another bit of cynical, focus-group-tested PR."
The U.S. government has become extremely corrupt. One method is the one mentioned, testing for weaknesses in public understanding, or willingness to act, and exploiting those weaknesses.
Here are others:
Making sure that honest, public-minded leaders from both parties are defeated.
Giving bills in Congress misleading names, like "Protect America".
Giving bills misleading features and widely publicizing the misleading features. For example, the "economic stimulus" bill only causes the government, which is deeply in debt, to print more money. That will make the value of the dollar go down even further. The "economic stimulus" bill also contains provisions to funnel money to banks. The banks apparently deliberately created the mortgage finance crisis doing so was profitable, and because banks were sure that the U.S. government would pass a bill to lessen the losses.
Smells like Freedom!!
Oh say does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave,
o'er the Land of the Free,
Or the home of the SLAVE......
Service guarantees Citizenship! Questions Guarantee GITMO.... Amerika Uber Alles!
DNC - kdawson - /. post
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to think "profiling is worse than the slaughter of innocent people..."
...once this has passed, I hope that someone (with a quickness) is able to exploit the system, record the personal calls of the legislators who passed the bill, and subsequently post them on the internet.
Everything from making dentist appointments to arranging for private meetings.
Live streaming if possible.
Ramen
In typical slashdot fashion, I have not taken the time to read the whole bill. I have not even read a summary of it. However, having read the title, I can say that I, living in America, support this whole concept of "protecting America." Go on Congress, allocate the funds for some more tanks or something, I'm behind you!
Your ad here. Ask me how!
"The debate isn't security versus privacy. It's liberty versus control."
RIAA, MPAA, and now USPAA....tell me you don't notice a problem here.
This creates serious security risks: danger of exploitation of the system by unauthorized users,
And the old telephone system wasn't of interest to hackers why? OH WAIT IT WAS.
danger of criminal misuse by trusted insiders,
And the old telephone system wasn't abused by nosey switchboard operators in programs such as I Love Lucy... OH WAIT IT WAS.
and danger of misuse by government agents.
And the old tele... I give up. I want my bandwidth back anyway from that PDF.
they don't record their own calls, only the "peasants" beneath them...
Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
There was no faster way to be fired (or worse) than to snoop into call records or facilitate illegal wiretaps, well intentioned or not.
Bull*shit*, chief. Hoover wiretapped and bugged whatever and whomever the hell he wanted, and nobody dared complain- he was 'fighting' communism. Hoover did it entirely on the premise that, as director of the FBI, it was his purview. That's it. No fancy legal mumbo-jumbo. "I'm the boss."
I hate the current wiretapping as much as the next guy, but let's not get caught up in "when I was your age, candybars cost 5 cents and the phone company didn't tap your phones illegally."
Our phones have been tapped almost since their inception; all the changes is who's calling the shots, what "evil" group is being targeted, and whose definition of "legal" is being used.
Please help metamoderate.
If there is a way for the NSA or DHS to listen to your calls, then there is a way for a determined hacker to listen to them. period. no kidding. I mean it.
By creating a monitoring system, the US corru^H^H^H^H^Hgovernment legistlators will create the means necessary for other governments, nefarious organizations, and plain old criminals to listen to your phone calls, monitor your emails, track your Internet usage.
If there is a way, there will be a will... trust me on that.
On the bright side, forget archiving all those emails for SarbOx, if they wanted to see them, the government should have fscking archived them for themselves!!
Sadly, I'm not joking. If there is anyway to monitor the data, or mine through the aggregate resultant data, someone will, and I'll go ahead and wager that it will first show up in either the form of a letter from the **AA or a specialized targeted advertisement sent to you because they know you like Elvis, have a Tivo, just had your front door replaced, and can use the perfect holiday gift of monogrammed door mats for people who just happen to have the same names as all your immediate relatives.
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
Too bad I am not working in an industry where it matters, but nevertheless I will say it: I will never execute a warrantless wiretap, nor will I permit one to be executed if I can in any way stop it, and it will only proceed once I am handcuffed and dragged into jail. This will cause a glorious ruckus.
Yes.
Gone!
I will title the bill "Keep American Children Safe from Terrorists and Pedophiles."
All it will actually do is allocate some money to various open source projects, and maybe a little to me as well.
Think it'll fly?
I, for one, propose civil disobedience in the form of smoke signals. Lets see you tap my lines for that message, jerks.
No congressperson has read the bill either!
I, too, began my professional carrier in the bell-system.
The fourth ammendment to the constitution and the Geneva Conventions used to be a strong part of the ethos of american culture.
But those were the good ol' pre-9/11 days.
Wake up and smell and the realized nightmares of the founding fathers, and don't waste your time thinking that whatever is left of their foundation of democratic principles can help us.
We are sliding full speed down the slippery slope already. The only hope is that america will survive the impact at the bottom, and that the result will be painful enough, that the constitution gets ammended, and a new dawn of liberty arises.
I was the longest holdout in believing that intelligent debate could actually help. It is clear to me that the only thing to do is to sit back, suffer the consequences along with everyone, and hope that people are capable of learning from their mistakes.
O what a brave new world. Human cloning, animal-human hybrid research, warrantless wiretaps. Someone could really write a good book about all of this... But these days you probably wouldn't want to purchase it or check it out of a library, lest your name be put referenced in database queries for threat index assessments.
-dmc
the Pillage our Rights, Oppose The Exasperating Constitution and Tolerance, And Manufacture Evil Relentlessly to Inundate the Citizens of America Act
Murphey's fighting Occam, and we're in the stands.
Bush and his Republicans say that the FISA renewal is the most important weapon we have to protect ourselves against attack. But Bush says he'll veto it if it lets people sue telcos for helping Bush wiretap us, and his Republicans also have tried to stop the bill from being amended, or even debating amendments. And now these Republicans are even trying to stop FISA from being extended while the Congress debates what the renewed version contains.
So Bush and his Republicans say that telco amnesty, retroactive immunity, is worth going without FISA at all. Even though they say it's our most important defense. So telco immunity, even though telcos would be immune under current law if they can show evidence that Bush assured them they were immune, is more important than our security.
If you're a Republican, it is.
--
make install -not war
...that was back when the bell system used CPP/IP (Carrier Pigeon Protocol/Internet Protocol) to transmit data?
I don't always use unix-like operating systems; but when I do, I prefer FreeBSD.
Matt Blaze originated in the midst of a generation where the individual's value was affirmed by protesting the value of others. Now most aging Generation X'ers are lost, confused, and searching for meaning, and like today's youth, they are adopting the remedy found by Baby Boomers: rebel, protest, find fault with all authority and reject the government regardless of its form, function or expedience, and then you have found wisdown and earned the worth of your individuality. Where there is nothing to protest, they will fabricate it; Blaze here is a case in point.
Regardless of the security merits of his work, it's evident Mr. Blaze's reaction now is influenced by nostalgia of simpler, better times, where everyone was pure in heart and admitted no ill will towards others. It is the same nostalgia that reaches further to the glorious days of yesteryear where righteous, benevolent, peaceful and charitible men walked the earth, thwarting evil and fighting for justice; men called hippies. Heroes worthy of emulating.
It is by looking through rose-colored glasses that many of us in the technology industry approve the example of the hippie and so respond with anger, paranoia, and fear against the government's domestic surveillance efforts, to the extent of fabricating fantastic scenarios of abuse of power and dismal encroachment on our civil liberties. We have lost sight that there is a technical difference between what the Act allows and what is called "wiretapping". We have lost sight that there are real privacy concerns, and those are domestic (The Act itself allows only for non-domestic electronic surveillance). Google and Microsoft are more dangerous to the privacy of Americans than the Protect America Act. Besides, the very nature of electronic communication has "technical vulnerabilities"; those engendered by the Patriot Act were already built-in to the infrastructure.
Mr. Blaze probably knows all that. But the retro-hippie mindset is huge. Our privacy is not under attack. He just needs something to protest so he can feel important. That's the real problem today.
I write sci-fi for metalheads
They may not listen to or read what you way, but they do pay attention to the gist of what's coming at them. If they start getting deluged with calls pro or con something, or if the messages coming in from their website are similarly tilted, they have staffers who tally this sort of thing, and the message goes back to the senator or rep that the natives are restless and they need to take note.
I highly recommend the system on http://downsizedc.org/ for this. They have all sorts of campaigns ongoing, and this FISA thing is currently one of them. You can pick your campaign, then it takes you to a page describing the issue and setting it up so you can send messages through the websites of your two senators and one representative with just one click. Their system does all the messy work of going to their sites and sending the messages.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and the proof of the downsizedc.org system is in their track record. They have several times stopped legislation that was initially thought by beltway insiders to be a slam-dunk. They're making a difference, and the more people that use them, the more difference they'll make.
You can mod me as a troll or flame bait or what ever you like. The fact of the matter is that we're on the slippery slope toward becoming a police state. Stay with me...
First the Patriot Act - no more do you have show probable cause and get a search warrant. The enforcement branch is now unfettered by little things like the Bill of Rights.
Second the Emergency Powers Act - this allows martial law to be declared and turns the President into a military dictator if there's "catastrophic emergency" but utterly and complete fails to define what qualifies as a "catastrophic emergency"
Third is this - Now they have the unlimited ability to spy on the average citizen.
Am I seriously the only one who sees a pattern in all of this? Shall I start citing historical examples? Wake up people!!!
2 cents,
QueenB
HDGary secures my bank
Hanlon's Razor is an old, worn out, overused pile of hogwash. It's the "well, WE DIDN'T KNOW" excuse.
.com bust? 9/11? Afghanistan? Second Persian Gulf military action?
You didn't know? How could you not know? WW-I? Great Depression? WW-II? Korea? Vietnam? Cuban Missle Crisis? Oil rationing? Black Monday? SNL bailout? First Persian Gulf military action?
Anyone who claims "well, WE DIDN'T KNOW" is full of shit. The banking conglomerates have been using this patsy scheme since time immemorial: raise (strategic) prices and rates to sap consumers, run up debt, crash the market, siphon the entire taxpaying population to hedge up the (artificially inflated) debt.
Do defensive lines get a Hanlon's Razor for not seeing a QB sneak? Do basketball stars get a Hanlon's Razor for biting at a fake? Do boxers get a Hanlon's Razor for falling for a 1-2 rabbit punch? Hell no... because it's the oldest trick in the book.
The only thing that's missing is the inclusion of the exposure of that trick in elementary and secondary schooling, ensuring that we have a new generation of dimwits who don't ever learn the oldest financial trick in the book until they're locked into jobs/homes/rents/bills of their own and too saddled with the concerns of daily life to actually call "BULLSHIT!"
Hanlon's Razor should be pooped on and derided for the faux ignorance that it is every time some idiot brings it up.
captcha: odorous
Why should I listen to such a bunch of no-names? I'm waiting to see what John Dvorak says.
"It doesn't cost enough, and it makes too much sense."
The real problem is that people don't give a crap about the constitution.
I'd like my Senators to sponsor what I like to call the Save America from Bad People Act. This law, if enacted, would allow me to publically aplaud or shame any and all federal politicians once a year, at a tax funded event. For politicians who I personally think did a good job, I'll shake their hand and say thank you. For politicians who I think did a poor job, I get to smack them upside the head and say "boo! booo! You suck! We want Bender! Boo!" Participation by politicians will be compulsory, and anyone attempting to duck out on this event would be subject to 2000 years in jail and a $5trillion fine on their personal estate, payable in 5 easy payments of $1trillion per year, or subject to 42%APR for any remaining balance past the due dates, with me and my descendants as first creditor on all their assets. The event will of course be televised, in HD where available. A new holiday will be born, where non-government employees have the day off work, but government employees must toil away at their jobs, and if federal politicians, ANY federal politician and ALL advisors/lobbyists of same (don't want to leave out the likes of Mr. Rove now do we?), that this day their job description absolutely requires them to have their hand shaken by me or their head smacked by me. In the event of my unfortunate demise, my place at this event will be filled by random drawing from a list of names of my choosing, and if that list is also extinguished, then I guess we'll need to figure that out.
I seek support from you and your Senators and Representatives to pass this bill for the betterment of our country. It's got a nice sounding name, so it must be good for everyone, right?
Being the Press tends to have more attention getting power then being a voter. Even if you come off as just a Blogger that is enough to get some serious notice from the congresscritter. A Blogger can cause serious trouble, but if you start the conversation as sincerely being on that polico's side your going to get at least a few points into their head.
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
More recent information about U.S. government debt:
U.S. Government Debt Graph (2007 Budget data) (Good for a quick view.)
U.S. Government Debt Clock
U.S. Government Debt
"Human cloning, animal-human hybrid research, warrantless wiretaps"
Now, I understand that your post is exactly that - your post, and thus your own personal opinion.
But whose freedoms are trampled, exactly, by researching the possibility of cloning human parts, or whole humans*?
And what do you think those with the valves of pigs' hearts saving their lives think of your "animal-human hybrid research" item?
Just food for thought.
* Possibly, the clone's; if they're to become a sentient being, etc. But these are far deeper 'freedom' questions (do clones have freedoms? do they have the same freedoms as 'regular' human beings? etc.) than the freedom of a person to get cloned, let alone that of a person to research the matter in the first place.
The law that established FISA isn't going to expire; only the Protect America Act. What's the difference? It's the Protect America Act that allows the wiretapping without warrants of people "reasonably believed to be outside the United States." What happens if it expires? Theoretically, they'll again need to get warrants for when they want to wiretap people, which they can do up to 72 hours after they've done initiated the wiretap. But it's not like the whole system is going to shut down. FISA has been on the books since 1978 and isn't going anywhere.
"Giving bills in Congress misleading names, like ''Protect America''."
Just to touch on this - it's not necessarily so much misleading for the act; I'm sure the act in itself is intended to help protect the U.S.. Just that the ways in which it aims to do this are possibly misguided.
However, the misleading part really comes in when you vote -against- such an act/bill/etc. "You voted -against- Protect(ing) America!? UN-American! NON-Patriot! You're clearly not with us, so you're against us!"
I think it's annoying enough that NASA wants to give all sorts of satellite missions 'catchy' names for the grand public, but the clearly misleading names of some of these bills/act/etc. which are given those names not to be catch but to evoke a gut-feeling within anybody that voting against it may be a Bad Thing^tm based on the name alone, really, really needs to end.
And no, I don't know how. Writing to representatives or, if you're lucky, senators clearly doesn't help.
On around page 28 of the PDF, it talks about domestic traffic (where both participants are inside the US) that may cross the border, due to network routing that goes through Canada, Skype relay nodes, etc. If you intercept all traffic that crosses the border, you may end up intercepting US-citizen-to-US-citizen communications.
But wouldn't Big Brother counter that the mere fact that the traffic crosses the border, makes it fall under their 'legitimate' border-protecting authority anyway, regardless of the apparent endpoints? So what if it's "virtually" domestic traffic -- physically it's not, and that alone possibly makes it fall under their authority. And we have a (regrettable) historic precedent that even US citizens lose some rights when they interact with the border (e.g. You can be searched for drugs w/out a warrant, whenever you enter the country).
Also, keep in mind that of you're communicating through a proxy, then that's an opportunity to set up a covert channel to a third party. For example: I talk to grandma through a foreign proxy. My conversion seems to be "Hello grandma, I got the cookies you sent me last week." A steganographic bit is seen by the proxy, and I just transmitted "0" (meaning: "sorry, I will not have collected the resources in time for next week's attack") to my mission control in Afghanistan. (Not that the NSA, even if it had legal authority to tap my call to grandma, would be able to detect whether I'm doing that or not...)
I'm strongly opposed to warrantless domestic eavesdropping, but I think the argument that sometimes domestic traffic leaves the country, is not a valid argument against spying on border-crossing traffic. A lot of other good points in the PDF, though.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
In order to change the way things are going, running for office can certainly help. You'll be bringing awareness to fresh concerns and issues just by voicing your platform, even if you have worse odds than a snowball in hell.
After all, the only reason why people cast their vote to maintain the status quo, is because it has worked so well for them so far. If you have a good job, good healthcare, retirement plan, managable mortgage, a car you like, 2.5 kids and a wife, why rock the boat? These are the people that need to be educated about the facts, whatever they are. It's a hard job since they're really not wanting for anything except a better tax rate, and maybe lower interest on their home loan.
Another way is to look for a way to actively engage and alter the public consciousness of issues. This can be accomplished through the arts: dance, music, sculpture, websites, etc. The idea is to give folks something that they'll eventually carry with them on the way to the ballot box. A tougher nut to crack, is making sure they stay mindful of your message while watching TV, but I digress.
MOD PARENT UP!!!
Those who made the decisions were rewarded, not punished: What's $34 Billion on Wall Street?. That New York Times article does not show the true picture, because the executives were rewarded with tens and hundreds of millions of dollars in pay. Their entire "punishment" for knowingly causing the problem was having to change employers.
Quote: "In any other industry, Mr. Kim and Mr. Maheras would be pariahs. But in the looking-glass world of Wall Street, they - and others like them - are hot properties."
It was completely well understood by everyone that house prices could not continue to rise rapidly forever. Everything that happened was deliberate, in the sense that the people who made the decisions knew that they would be paid well.
Now house prices will go up again, but only because the "economic stimulus package" will make the value of the dollar go down. The prices of everything will rise rapidly, as they have been doing recently.
Well, I'm not sure which proposal has been dubbed the "Protect America" act, but I'll bet that it has, in all likelihood, nothing to do with protecting America. Who names these things? Karl Rove? Why are Republicans so much better at the art of framing the debate than the Dems are? It's the "Clear Skies Initiative", the "Death Tax", the "Patriot Act" LOL. Dems need to start renaming these bills to reflect what effects they really have.
this:
AT&T does NOT deserve immunity from prosecution for activity in setting up wiretaps. By default, most computers come with ms windows on them. I suspect ms is paying AT&T -- a formerly Unix-based company-- marketing dollars to push windows. Last night, I tried to use my Linux-based computer to set up my housemate's DSL account activation, and AT&T programmers or upper management (via ineptitude? I doubt it...) decided to code their JAVA not for the most standards-adhering browsers, but for Internet Explorer. Well, the support Safari, too. I dealt with TWO technicians over 40 minutes. Both empathized with me, but were somewhat in disagreement with each other. One said the JAVA-based app wouldn't care what browser really was used. The second said it wasnt' Java, but when I caved in and used my housemate's vista-based computer to activate his service, it indeed WAS Java. This is got to be some customized version of Java designed solely to exclude or discriminate against non-ie/non-windows/non-Mac users.
The initial sign-up screen has 3 radio buttons:
Windows
Mac
Linux/Other.
Trying the first two, I got error messages because the browsers for these platforms were not detected. Trying the third, I got a flat-out rejection stating that Linux was not supported.
I plead my case to the AT&T representative that we Linux users ONLY need our IP assigned, and that the AT&T software has NO business whatsoever reading our registry (if we chose to use a windows box), changing files, and sending back code to AT&T from our machines. After all, if after the initial sign-on AT&T doesn't NEED a pure IE or Safari browser, then why discriminate against Konqueror, Opera, Firefox, Flock, etc.? It's because (I suspect) either AT&T, microsoft of the government/s or all 3 want to tie specific computers (maybe MAC addresses or motherboard IDs) to specific phone numbers and house addresses and account holders.
I also told these reps that AT&T (and Comcast and others, as I've dealt with Comcast in the past) ONLY need the AT&T-supplied or connecting-router's MAC address, since they already know the subscriber contact information and they can reverse lookup the phone number. He agreed there, too, except to admit they don't even need the router MAC. So, I challenged him, again, then WHY embed your downloaded software into to machine such that it has to be rebooted to "remove itself". No, I suspect it's to rewrite parts of the registry.
Between the ISPs and microsoft, the Apple and windows users who are not critically analyzing this situation are by default making microsoft and AT&T/et al cohorts or accomplices to wholesale wiretap clearinghousing of vast swaths of the US public.
Now I am ultimately NOT against the government/s collecting information on REAL criminals who've demonstrated they need an eye kept on them. But consider this, too:
AT&T, by compelling use of IE for initial sign-on, is allowing ms to collect and present to shareholders FALSE statistics about how many people are "using" ms ie. In reality, many people are ditching ie in favor of Flock, Safari, Opera, Konqueror, etc, generally based on open source code.
How long will it take for us to see an anti-trust-like/customer-abuse-like trial to BUST UP this uncouth conduct of AT&T, Comcast, etc? At least to Comcast's credit, several times (after my first and ONLY time using their CD), after I said in NO uncertain terms will there be a windoze box used in my household and that I use Linux, they validated my router, provided/provisioned it an IP, and I had no more browser/OS-level arguments with them.
Why the hell can't AT&T get their noses out of ms' rear? Is it because ms pays them kickbacks to coerce unsuspecting people into giving up on Linux? Is it because AT&T has money from ms and orders from the NSA/CIA/FBI/et al? Is it because AT&T has sloppy, thoughtless, idiotic execs or programmers? All of the above.
There is a minefield and
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
In "The Puzzle Palace", James Bamford lays out what NSA and CIA were up to back in the 60s and early 70s. Telecom companies were up to their eyeballs in illegal wiretaps back then. Operation Shamrock was one of the big programs. Furthermore, the AT&T of today bears almost no relationship at all to the AT&T of old. They have only the name in common. Blaze's sadness and disappointment is clueless at best.
Well for starters take the "death tax".
Democrats were too slow in re-dubbing this "the Paris Hilton tax".
But it would have been appropriate to name it that, since as a result of its repeal, she will pay a smaller percentage of her inheritance in taxes than most of us pay on income that we had to work for.
certainly that is a more precise way of saying it.
Sprinkle words like "anthrax," "bomb," "overthrow," "assassinate," "blow up," etc. through every email, every post, every web page, every damn thing that the internet carries. Let them sift through that. Send ten random emails full of nonsense for every real one you send. Once they figure out how to filter this, defeat their filters. Etc.
www.zeitgeistmovie.com Don't let it happen to you.
I don't get it. Slashdot seems like great group of thinkers, a strong percentage of whom share a pro-science, pro freedom of speech and habeas corpus, and "global warming is real and we should start doing something" agenda (all anti-bush). But over the last 7 years, as a group, you seem to rant and make jokes, but very few say they're doing anything about it. Cmon, here's some simple petitions that take a freakin minute to fill out with google auto-form.
How many Slashdotters are there anyway? You really think we couldn't make a difference if everyone contributed 5 min to call their reps?
I was finishing my EE degree in 2000, and noticed in EETimes that Gore's responses to their questions sounded OK, but Bush's were non-existent! The biggest engineering periodical in the country, while EE/CS people were leading the nation's longest period of economic prosperity since just after WWII (even minus the bubble, we were leading the world in increasing productivity, which does make America more successful relative the world). Easy no-brainer right? Yeah, I voted Gore, but to my surprise, none of my nerd friends did! Why? "Oh, my vote wont mean anything anyway" Cmon. I bet Floridians thought the same way. If every slashdotter spent 5min a day bothering our congressman, or spreading a little word, or donating a few dollars, I'm sure we could have impeached the ahole after he lied to us to start Vietnam II. I dont care if he wins the war this year - he could have avoided it, raised CAFE and just stop buying gas from impotent Saddam. Would have saved (hundreds of?) thousands of lives, global goodwill, and trillions of dollars of debt (which coincidentally is part of the reason Bush I's economy was shaky when handing it off to Clinton, and now coincidentally our economy is shaky again, hmmmm).
Although privacy is important, this is not a question about privacy, but about accountability. The sad truth is that even if they have to ask a judge about it, they will still get all the warrants they want - remember, this is about National Security (TM). But when you get a warant from a judge, a record is made of the event, by an authority that is independent (at least in principle), unless I am much mistaken, which means that in principle it will be possible to review the events later and possibly prosecute things like abuse of power etc.
If there are no independent records, what is there to stop agents from spying on their neighbors? Only the personal integrity of the individual agent, and while most may be decent people, some aren't. And much worse than that, it will be a lot easier for powerful interest groups to infiltrate and abuse the system - do we want, say, Scientology to have agents in a position where they can tap our private communications? They aren't exactly know for their respect for their fellow humans, and there are many other groups exactly like them.
You Americans.
A few intelligent people will tell you in no uncertain terms that you MUST NOT LET THIS ACT PASS. They will explain that it'll smash your privicy into tiny peices, they'll say its up to YOU to speak to your representitive to get it thrown out. And you know what? You'll all do fuck all.
Then four months down the line thousands and thousands of you will be back here, whinging about "yet another affront to our privicy" through a act they "sneaked through".
You vote a Paranoid Texan Oil Baron into office, TWICE, so what the hell do you expect? The man's a joke the world over, so if I was you I'd try and stop him passing any laws (that will be very hard to revoke when you finally get a President with two braincells to rub together).
Yet all you seem to do is COMPLAIN. Fucking do something about it.
Oh yeah, and to the torrent of "Bush cheated his way in! Recounts were fixed" comments coming up, I say "What? Twice motherfucker? And if the country is REALLY that against him, why did it all come down to Florida."
Your president is terrible, the American public are worse.
You feel sleepy. Close your eyes. The opinions stated above are yours. You cannot imagine why you ever felt otherwise.
Australia still having a good government for the most part that apparently sincerely tries to do its citizens' bidding (as the continuing success of Prime Minister Howard instructs us), whereas American representative democracy has been replaced by a kleptocratic oligarchy - just like the old Taster's Choice commercials, only with far greater impact.
Part of the problem in the States is that our form of government became fatally flawed the day corporations attained legal personhood since a) there's so little flexibility in the system and b) the people who benefit most from the status quo get to write the rules that keep them there. A Westminster system, on the other hand, has to be more responsive - your PM is still an MP representing real constituents, and the formalization of the "shadow" Government helps keep everybody honest while still providing leadership opportunities and publicity for the parties presently out of power. We Americans have been much too smug about the 'superiority' of our form of government for the last 50 years or so, even as it has been steadily, visibly and openly removed from our influence.
Don't forget 9/11 changed everything.
EXCEPT MY UNDERWEAR
How about renaming it to the "TBBA: The Big Brother Act"
or "TONFTAF: Things Old Nixon Forgot To Ask For".
Every time you pick up your phone:
"Thank you for using BellSouth.
Your calls may be monitored for National Security Purposes."
Don't worry, everything will be all right once it's under government control.
Just like education, foreign policy and health care, the government knows what's best for you!
In Republican America, the government tells the people who to vote for!
"I was in love with a beautiful blonde once, dear. She drove me to drink. It's the one thing I am indebted to her for."
To all those out there that complain how us Americans are so "stupid" and re-elected Bush for the 2nd term, here's a few realities in American Politics for ya:
1) The US was still under the presumption that Iraq still had evidence of WMD and a home base for AQ. We thought he WAS still doing to right thing at the time... and information condradicting Bush's claims did NOT come out until AFTER his re-election.
2) Kerry sucked. I voted for him, but he got manhandled not only during debates but the Republican Propaganda Machine. That's why Bush won so OVERWHELMINGLY - People thought Kerry was worse.
Now, combine those 2 points - Kerry looked terrible and Bush looked like our protector. Now that a majority of America KNOWS that there were no WMD and AQ, along with the other atrocities that the Bush Administration passed, and that's why we hate him now.
"But you guys don't do anything about it" - To let the outside world know, the common citizen in a democracy has only 1 power - his vote. Once an official is elected into office, he couldn't give a rat's @$$ about the common person because he got what he needed from the common man - his vote. There's NOTHING WE CAN DO ONCE THE OFFICIAL IS IN OFFICE.
"But Clinton got impeached. Why can't you impeach Bush?" - The only reason Clinton got impeached was because of the Republican controlled congress that sat below Clinton for his presidency. The Democratic congress just took over (notice how nearly everything is vetoed), but the dems have to focus their time on passing other bills and laws for their appearence in the next election and do not have the time to impeach Bush/Cheney (both need to go).
That being said, I'd impeach the bastard. I don't believe in this so called "He's only got 1 more year" excuse. Can we tolerate another year?
If only the common man could vote on impeaching Bush... then we'd have the power to do something about it.
Chippy