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Electronic Surveillance By US Law Enforcement Agencies Rising Steeply
hypnosec writes "According to data obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), surveillance of emails and other forms of Internet communications without warrants has increased substantially over the last two years. Documents, obtained by the ACLU, reveal that there has been a 361% increase in 'pen register' and 'trap-and-trace' orders between 2009 and 2011. The ACLU has appealed to Congress to bring in more judicial oversight in these warrantless orders."
First tap
rewriting history since 2109
There is no excuse for such warantless searches. All searches need a warrant. If we're talking about a search sometime shortly before obtaining a warrant (with the risk of not getting one afterwards), that's a gray area, but no warrant afterwards means the evidence should not be used. But in no situation should there be any sort of search without said warrant.
We can be sure that Justice is dispensed with.
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Ahhha haha hahaha ha hahahahahahaha hahahaha hahahahah!
Just kidding! Of course it won't. These things only go in one direction!
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Let's face it: we now live in a surveillance society. If it's not the government (FBI, NSA, CIA, DHS, etc.), it's a corporation trying to make money (Google (DoubleClick), Microsoft, Apple, etc.) or an IP troll (RIAA, MPAA, Sony, EMI, etc.). We drive down the street, and we're under almost constant video surveillance. Walk into a store, bank, restaurant, dry cleaners, expect to be photographed. Soon we'll have drones overhead. Big Brother is watching. Their excuse is "We're just trying to make money/keep you safe", and their justification is "If you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about.". Get used to it, because there's nothing you can do about it.
Judicial oversight be dammed.
Report every request for data to the person whose data it is.
If you don't want them to know, ask the court for a delay in reporting for 6 months.
If they don't keep renewing, then they don't need the data for any criminal investigation and the person can be told.
The person, themselves will see if that request was fair and legal because they know and have an incentive to pursue misuse and fishing expeditions.
It's like they got their excuse to remove privacy and now anyone and everyone is the subject to fishing expeditions. And if they can't find something to prosecute, it seems they're not beyond creating it:
http://www.techdirt.com/blog/?tag=entrapment
A bit old, but David Brin's Transparent Society is an interesting treatment of this issue.
This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
The summary should have posted the raw number instead. Increasing by 361% doesn't really mean much. 100 to 461 isn't impressive, compared to, say, 100000 to 461000.
while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
have the least interesting lives.
But it's still horrifying.
Then again, if you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to worry about it.
Move along, move along.
Where are all of the people who were howling when Bush was at the helm? When Bush did this, a lot *less* of this, mind you, you couldn't go anywhere on the web without liberal activists screaming for him to be impeached.
But now we've got Obama, and the horde is silent. Apparently the howling was never at all based on principles, but solely on political partisanship. Hypocrites.
PS if you think this will get any better under Romney, you're a damned fool. If you haven't figured it out yet, Democrats and Republicans are more alike than different, and when it comes to total situational awareness of what every man, woman, and child is doing at all times, they are united in solidarity.
Surely the cops having nothing to hide, but when i asked them if they minded me searching though their house they weren't to interested.
who watches the watchers?
Orwellian dystopia here we come, welcome to the New World Order.
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
Then again, if you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to worry about it.
"If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him."
So police and politicians wouldn't mind me searching their homes (surely the people asking for these laws having nothing to hide).
Here's the "Change" I believed in...
In a literal sense, there can be no such thing. Privacy is hiding - people subscribe by the idea that not everything is everybody else' business, therefore your proposition fails on two points - being first nobody SAID that was the case [you put words in their mouths], and 2nd, such a state of mind as "nothing" to hide is impossible.
Not that simpletons like you would understand it.
No really, as long as they were around, western governments at least paid some lip sevice to people's rights - in order to distance theselves from those horrible oppressive countries that monitor their citizens every move, communication and (at least trying to) thought.
that people are beginning to realize just how little their lives are impacted or affected by terrorism. out of sheer desparation, the government drive to catch anything remotely related to the ideas or sentiments of terrorism or terrorists is now becoming apparent.
if we dont have 'terror,' then an entire industry that employs millions of americans collapses during an intractable recession. Seeing an increase in wiretaps and so forth is merely observing this industrial organism defensively fight for its survival. As for its government custodian, in this case, i suspect its easier to keep up appearances than to face the fact that peanut allergies killed more americans last year than terrorism, and obesity killed more americans than 9/11 by a long shot.
Good people go to bed earlier.
Let them come.
I did not approve of my taxes being spent this way, which can't possibly reduce crime in a reasonable reflection of what it is costing. Not to dismiss misuse of such ... lets call it what it is.... spying on its own citizens.... No why would they want to do that? With media control they have a feed back loop for manipulating the public.
No taxation without representation.... Is this representation?
my wife has gotten hooked on Homeland since it won all those Emmys - it's well written, incredibly well acted and an interesting premise EXCEPT for the idea of a CIA officer being worried about being prosecuted for warrantless surveillance of an American citizen. (mini-spoiler) there's actually a scene where her mentor blackmails a judge to obtain a FISA warrant since he obviously would NEVER have granted it otherwise. again, otherwise a great show but it's hard for me not to fall the sofa laughing at the portrayal of CIA-types showing genuine fear of consequences for this type of thing...
Pen register / trap-and-trace information is just the log of phone numbers dialed outgoing and incoming to a phone. Since the 70's, the Supreme Court has maintained that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy concerning just the phone numbers, therefore it is not a search, so constitutional protections against warrantless searches do not apply. Now, if the government wanted to monitor the actual conversations or contents of those communications, THAT is private and requires a warrant. The ACLU knows all this, yet they still maintain that pen register / trap-and-trace techniques are warrantless searches. It's just not true, unless the Supreme Court chagnes its mind, which it probably won't.
For emails, setup your own exchange server or what ever alternative there is on linux instead of using gmail, hotmail, etc... Use vpn. Don't save any of your personal data on cloud, create your own cloud server. But what do you expect to happen when the U.S goes around the world meddling in other peoples affairs including installing dictators, taking resources(for corporations to use), etc... The chickens come home to roost.
Why is /. turning into d!gg?
The increase of security cameras, the manufacturing of more than 1,000 'public-safety' unmanned drones, and the investment in armored vehicles made by DHS were recently declared and will more than likely be fulfilled before the year is over, all in preparation for the social uprising that will ensue due to Obama's re-election; ultimately leading to 'Martial Law.' Here one will know the true meaning of a 'police state.'