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US Government Seizes Email of WikiLeaks Volunteer
bs0d3 writes "The U.S. Department of Justice has forced Gmail and Sonic.net to hand over the personal information of Jacob Appelbaum, a WikiLeaks volunteer. Sonic says they fought to keep the DoJ out of Appelbaum's records, which was very expensive but 'the right thing to do.' Google said, 'we comply with the law,' although 'Both Google and Sonic pressed for the right to inform Mr. Appelbaum of the secret court orders, according to people familiar with the investigation.' The collected information and the nature of the investigation remain classified. Applebaum's Gmail correspondence seized by the DoJ dates back to November 1, 2009, which is believed to be the month that WikiLeaks contributor and Army Private Bradley Manning allegedly began communication with Julian Assange. Last year, federal prosecutors used a similar subpoena to obtain information pertaining to Applebaum's Twitter account."
I will be soooo glad when that fascist George Bush is out of the White House! Shit like this will not happen when Obama is finally inaugurated! Change is coming!
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
...thanks again, Dubya...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_PATRIOT_Act#Details
The Act was passed in the House by 357 to 66 (of 435) and in the Senate by 98 to 1 and was supported by members of both the Republican and Democratic parties.
Both parties started this, and both parties have continued to support this act. (You'll notice that the Dems didn't repeal this when they had full control of the House, Senate, and Presidency). The sooner you stop thinking there is an 'us' and 'them' when it comes to the two parties, the better off you will be.
The problem is that the Patriot Act (thanks again, Dubya.)
You mean "thanks again, Dubya and Obama". Obama signed an extension earlier this year.
2011 US House reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act (HR 514):
Republicans:
Yea - 210
Nay - 26
No vote - 5
Democrats:
Yea - 67
Nay - 122
No vote - 4
In 2011, 35% of Democrats voted to reauthorize the PATRIOT ACT and 87% of Republicans do. The sooner you stop thinking that there are no differences between the parties, the sooner you can realize that your vote actually does make a difference.
I know that it's popular to trumpet the 'there is no difference' line on Slashdot. But instead of doing that, why not do some actual research into the positions and voting records of your candidates? Maybe then you will figure out that there *are* real differences and that the reality of a complex representative political system means that you are going to disagree with your representatives on a good number of issues.