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Senate Bill Rewrite Lets Feds Read Your E-mail Without Warrants
concealment writes "A Senate proposal touted as protecting Americans' e-mail privacy has been quietly rewritten, giving government agencies more surveillance power than they possess under current law. [Sen. Patrick] Leahy's rewritten bill would allow more than 22 agencies — including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Communications Commission — to access Americans' e-mail, Google Docs files, Facebook wall posts, and Twitter direct messages without a search warrant. It also would give the FBI and Homeland Security more authority, in some circumstances, to gain full access to Internet accounts without notifying either the owner or a judge."
Guardians of our Liberties and Privacy!
Good thing those nasty old Republicans aren't running the show. They might force the Feds to get a search warrant or something.
Seriously? How far are they going to go before they just mount cameras on everybody and all of our traffic is controlled by the US government? What is this nazi germany?
The Government can only ensure your privacy effectively if they know everything you want to keep private.
I saw the summary and immediately thought "oh, surely this is Yet Another example of the submitter tarting up a story and the editor not bothering to read the story first to verify the truth of it".
The story seems to be true (except that it's just in the bill stage, so the headline should read "will let", but let's not let facts get in the way, Slashdot), but that's immaterial to my post here.
Hail Eris, full of mischief...
E pluribus sanguinem
Dems love to violate the constitution and their oath of office.
Not so far off from a communist state. Next step Internet Firewall (if not already there).
Resistance is futile!
Yet another good idea from the people we voted into office. 1) Why do these people have jobs? 2) Why are they still living in America? The very least we could do is vote them out of a job and set them adrift.
Whenever anyone starts freaking out about email snooping, I find it is a good time to point out that an email message that is not encrypted is roughly as secure in transit as a postcard.
Well over 90% of you voted for the one party system. I hope you're happy with what you got. This is the future that Winston Smith was told about, that you were also warned of. But you let those warnings go by the wayside so you could shout down the other half of the one party system, foolishly thinking your voice mattered.
What's the popular term for that around here? Oh, yes... EAT YOUR OWN DOGFOOD!!!!!
It would cost a lot of money to pay people to read through spam, which resides in most of them. There is always a risk that the feds would end up using it as an excuse to target innocent civilians. Duh.
I'm an ex-pat who's lived outside the U.S. for twenty years (this year). It's been fascinating to watch the transformation of America from a distance over the past decade.
It's fascinating, like watching a car crash in slow motion is fascinating.
Just out of curiosity, I was wondering how much further the American people are going to let their government take them down a well-documented path that has led to so many of history's darkest episodes...? Seriously, what happened to the rebel spirit and legacy of your forefathers? From what I've read, they wouldn't have taken this kind of crap from anyone, much less their own elected officials!
That generation (generalizing Big time) - both Dems and Reps - have a completely different view of America. They were the kids who were alive during WWII and saw everyone working together to defeat evil. The government was Good. The government fought for freedom.
To them, we are the source of Good, Truth, Justice, and that we can do no wrong. They lived during the US' best economic times, they saw the US become a World power and pretty much lead the World.
My 20 something daughter and her grandparents talk as if they come from two different countries. It's really entertaining. I look forward to Thanksgiving.
Stop whining on Slashdot for a few minutes and write your Senator and Congressman.
Most people with desk jobs don't do any actual work anyway, spending their days wading through spam and facebook posts. I believe that this is an ingenious job creation strategy that can fix our economy by giving jobs to people that require skills they already possess.
Seriously, what does the 4th Amendment in particular, or the Constitution in general, even apply to anymore? The government can subvert every single protection afforded in the Constitution simply by saying "It's a national security matter" (or even "It's a law enforcement matter") and every court in the country will simply turn its head and ignore it.
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
Let's call this what it is, high treason. The president, members of congress, and judges all swear an oath of office to defend the Constitution, not render it asunder.
"I, (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. ..."
Now I understand the plan. The gov is going to close the budget deficit by data mining everyone's email, Facebook, etc. for preference and tendency data that will then be sold to advertisers for tons of money! This is a great idea and doesn't require any tax increases.
This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
Since I live in Vermont I figured I'd call his office - and was passed along to the Judiciary Committee - where I got the [what sounded like every other] usual dissembling response. ("The Senator is very concerned about privacy..."). I'm afraid unless EFF and others get involved very publicly this is a fait accompli.
When SOPA was floating around I called and was told by a (what sounded like a 20-something year-old) staffer "You don't know what you're talking about at all" - exact words - so I'm not holding out much hope!
No one is innocent, citizen.
git thee back to ghey5
where is a petition against this that I can sign?
Assume everyone can read your email if it's not encrypted.
One day you won't be able to take a shit in a bathroom without having a camera in the stall with you! Its too late, we picked these dumb asses in office.
Leahy is a disgrace to Vermont and to those who respect civil
rights.
4th amendment will trump this bull...er bill... if it comes to pass. The first instance of this type of evidence brought to court will be challenged as unconstitutional and the law will be gone. The only way to overcome the 4th amendment is to pass another amendment that repeals it.
That said, we've been seeing the erosion of this basic right for a long time and none of the courts really give a shit. National Security > all.
Maybe we can catch more government scandals.
I can understand giving the FBI or other investigative agencies more power to snoop on American citizens' digital communications - I do not agree with it, ESPECIALLY if there is no need to get a judicial warrant before starting the snooping, but I can understand the desire for that level of snooping ability.
But why give that ability to agencies line FCC or SEC? What possible reason is there for the Securities & Exchange Commission to need access to my email? Same question for the Federal Communication Commission?
Just a reminder before moaning about your privacy:
Next time, think before you click. Unfortunately you'll have to wait four years to correct your mistake.
That was a secret thing because it was illegal. If your snooping powers are illegal, you'll do it anyway when it's really really important. There's always the risk of getting caught or bad PR or losing your job etc. But once you enshrine the snooping in law and sidestep constitutional protections, it become ripe for abuse. So yes, it has always been going on but they're now trying to take it to another level.
This is not something a free society does. This violates the 4th amendment.
Sorry America, but you're fucked and are fast becoming a joke.
All your bluster around the world about freedom and democracy is hypocrisy now.
Now, show us your papers citizen ... we're looking at them anyway.
Epic Fail
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Sadly, this has always been true, simply less well-known and perhaps less widespread. Google, for example, Cointelpro. Yes, that came to light and was declared unconstitutional, but it's naive to think Cointelpro was the only program of its kind and that with its demise all illegal (and legal) government spying came to an end.
Start one here?
This is about everyone having their mail server in american soil or hosted by an american company, maybe even routed. But if this law gives some protection to US citizens, wont give it to the rest of the people.
No it won't. The Constitution is just about meaningless these days.
- you can be stopped, searched, and seized with no suspicion or warrant
- try using your right to bear arms in NYC
- granted, they're not quartering troops in our homes....but there is no need to.
- guess, we still have the right to gripe...for now
You can find the petition here...
http://cheaperthandirt.com/
I feel safer already. But seriously I do think we need more such laws. If we are boiling a frog then perhaps turning up the heat may be the best course of action at this point.
Access to my tweets without a warrant is not a fight I need to have. I spew these out to my supposedly private followers, and it would be trivial for the government to sneak into my list with a handle as unimaginiative as bigbrother or watchingyou or even mintruth. Privacy on Twitter is not an illusion, it is nonexistent.
Access to my Facebook wall, if I designate it as for friends only, I think is improper. No, this I need to fight.
Reading my email without a warrant? Time to consider that email is replacing snail mail so well that the USPS is going under, just slower than Hostess. If the government needs a warrant to open an envelope and read my paper mail, they should need a warrant to do the same to my email.
And the electronic nature of email does not change the fact that I have as much an expectation of privacy as with paper mail. Think it over. Someone can, for most of us, reach into your mailbox and take out an envelope, steam it open, Polaroid the contents, and put it back. The medium does not change the act, merely the process. We need to re-establish the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, among others. This finally gets me to open up my phone and email my representatives today. We may have to have the revolution after all.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
This is why I think we need a digital bill of rights to stop this stuff from happening before it even gets going. I started a petition on the we the people sight. If you agree go sign it! Apparently I need 150 signatures just to get it properly listed. http://wh.gov/XLym
I think its time for US, the PUBLIC, to start CHARGING our ELECTED REPESENTATIVES with TREASON for doing this back handed, secretive bullshit. They need to go to prison and made an example of. I'm tired of these ELECTED TYRANTS trying to change the CONSTITUTION that THEY are SWORN TO UPHOLD and PROTECT !
Secure in our papers and effects. When written, this included all private communications. Simply because we use electrons instead of ink and paper doesn't mean we lose the protection of the 4th amendment.
Why are they pushing for having a law for warrantless inspections!
Come on! Since when in the USA a warrant is really really needed by feds?
They can just do it, right?
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
Ditto.
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
One can set up encrypted email trivially if one wants: see Phil Zimmerman's and Mike Janke's (new) "Silent Circle" offering, which does so for cell phones.
davecb@spamcop.net
... for running my own mail servers at home, as the designers intended.
Sendmail/Mimedefang, Dovecot, and Roundcube make for a very nice solution.
For those who want something packaged, and don't mind the bloat and inability to stop things before they have to be analyzed by the antispam filters, there is Zimbra.
What possible reason would the Federal Communications Commission have for snooping on someone's email? Are they a law enforcement agency now?
No one is innocent, consumer.
There. FTFY.
if its government access without owner consent or consent from a judge
Its
loss of legal consent of the people with constitutional checks and balances
So
Not well
Fuck off, Leahy!
Obviously cloud providers like GMail, Yahoo, etc are effected by this. People running mail servers out of their house or their own private property are going to still be protected by fourth amendment protections. Although, email still flows unecrypted into collection points setup in 2002 (carnivore), so this might be one way they will still be able to view email even if you run the mail server outside of a cloud provider. If this bill passes, the only thing I'd do different is probably shut down my Gmail account and go back to using my business domain (hosted at my house in a rack)
The darling of NPR and C-SPAN (I do not have any idea how the latter happens, since C-SPAN is supposed to be just transmitting one-to-one what happens, but his voice dominates C-SPAN, whenever I listen to it)
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
I started one here. http://wh.gov/XLym
You know with this kind of power, they will sooner or later "find" something that breaks some obscure law. Then we can all be in prison. Think how cheap license plates will be with the entire country producing them! Profit!
Clickety Click
Witness the power of fear.
Thanks a lot Harry Reid, you prick
You must gather your party before venturing forth.
This caused me to login and post for the first time in a long while.
Just spoke to one of Senator Snowe's assistants in the DC office. The assistant was not familiar with HR 2471. I asked that the Senator oppose such legislation. Senator Collins' office in DC only gave me a voicemail...
Called Senator Sanders' office in DC, since Sanders seems to actually understand little things like the Constitution. Sanders' assistant seemed to think that warrantless access was already the norm.
Apparently I woke up in Russia this morning...
Will contact Leahy's office soon. A little less time with Batman movies, Senator Leahy, a little more time guarding the rights of the citizenry.
nuff said
It's funny how the bozos in Congress always want to inflict laws on us that they don't want to inflict on themselves...
A small group of terrorist scum ruined the lives of many on 9/11. A larger group of elected scum is making every last citizen a victim of that event, destroying not a few buildings, but an entire country.
It would be sad enough to have been a victim of 9/11. Hopefully those victim's don't know their deaths have been used to make everyone a victim of 9/11.
So really, what changes in your life if someone reads your email? Lets not forget the fact this isnt about reading EVERYONES email. Its only about reading the email of suspects and people under the microscope of the government already. If you truly, honestly, really believe the government has the time, energy, resources and manpower to sit and read the billions of emails sent in this country every day then in their entireity then you are a fucking moron. This policy is just for people they are trying to catch. They dont care about some fat IT guys emails in omaha, they dont care about some old lady in salt lake city, they dont care abou some girl sending her amateur twilight fetish stories to her friends in arkansa. Drug dealers, felons, mobsters, terrorists, and all the actual bad people, those are the emails they want to read. But you guys are awful, its like everytime you dont like something you turn it into the end of the world like for example windows8 everyone online made it sound like it would kill pc gaming, rape indie developers one by one in the ass, bring satan back to earth and damn us all to a firey hell.
I dont care ifthe government reads my email. They will just see me send links to some asian kid beatboxing the mario theme on youtube to my friend, an alert that my new verizon bill is ready to be paid, me getting an alert I got a response to a physics question I posted on a forum somewhere or me getting a paypal alert for something I won on ebay. Thats about it.
And guess what? Who gives a shit. Honestly, if the government reads your email how does it effect your life? It doesnt because if you arent doing bad things then you will never notice or care and your life will never be affected. Lets face it the only people who should worry about their emails being read are the people who are doing bad things and woried about getting caught. Trust me, no one gives a fuck about you tweeting you saw a double rainbow or that picture of the d00d cat you sent your grandma.
All people want to do is rant and rave and bitch on the internet about the government and what they do. I bet if a story came out how terrorists blew up an airport and they were sending information via email you all would be crying "BUT WHY WERENT YOU READING THE EMAILS?!!!!!!!" Everyone will throw a hissy fit and get all wrapped up in something over nothing. People love to overblow everything and turn it into something it isnt. Get over yourselves, youre not important enough to worry about the government reading your email because they dont give a shit what you do because you are a nobody.
The difference between Western democracies and the old skool Communist regimes?
Difference #1: We call ourselves a democracy, so of course we are.
Difference #2: Instead of ONE party, we have TWO parties (note the huge quantitative difference), so everybody can freely pick the party that perfectly matches their views.
Difference #3: We wear more colorful clothing, so that means we have freedom.
Difference #4: Instead of a politburo to control lawmakers, we have gigantic corporations.
The list goes on.
(If you actually think democracy could be better then the farce we have now, then help change it peacefully from the outside using open source tools and principles.)
I have to say I'm embarrassed about our Senator's reprehensible stance on electronic issues -- he's the guy who behind SOPA as well. I gave him a piece of my mind on that one, and I'll be doing the same with this one. I have to wonder what the fuck this guy's problem is.
I signed it, thanks.
BTW, why doesn't slashdot auto-sign-me-in??? They are the only site in the millions I hit each day that doesn't log me in. So if you reply, I won't know, so I will go away now....
You would be a fool to believe that the government is not accessing your emails, tweets, cloud data, phone calls, etc.
In addition to these things they are also scanning your automobile license plate and logging it's locations, tracking your electric usage through smart meters, monitoring your credit card usage and using recognition software to track you on the streets and in public buildings.
Once the government has surveillance capabilities they use it. Now they also have powerful processing, data mining and data warehousing capabilities and they're using those to the hilt. Much of it is automated.
You are being watched. It has nothing to do with your paranoia. Assume it. Only an idiot would think otherwise.
I agree that this "two sides" perspective is idiotic, but in my experience, there are large numbers of Democrats who are simply in denial about their party and their president being just as bad as the other "team" and the previous president when it comes to civil liberties.
After four years of watching President Obama perpetuating and expanding the imperial presidency of George W. Bush and either signing or re-authorizing legislation that is every bit as damaging as the laws passed under the previous administration, I am sick and tired of listening to the Obama apologists.
What number, etc.? Can't find it in TFA. Need to call Leahy's office and give him a dressing-down.
...is invasion of privacy ... there ae no if's and's or buts about it.
They are violating the intents of the founders and trying to subvert any probable correction by the people of the government as the founders recognized our rioghts and duty to do when they wrote the Declaration of Independence.
There is a reason why the people have a right and duty to keep the government that is supposed to be representing the people, to be doing so.
Just wait until the Supreme Court declares this little provision unconstitutional. I think we should start charging politicians fines for passing laws they know will not hold up in court.
No port for BeOs? And they call this project cutting edge....
A postcard must be read and OCR program aren't that good or quick, whereas an email you can automate it and are directly in something a computer can read.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
Hell, I ALWAYS assumed any agency could read my emails. That's why GPG is needed. No 3rd party cert signer, just me and the key I generated. I'm sure the NSA could brute force it if they wanted too, but I would have to be a real person of interest for them to waste the day or two their supercomputers would need to crack my key.
I thought the government did this all the time anyway.
And that way back, the idea was to poison the well so badly as to make these efforts not worthwile; encrpyt everything you can and include the 'seven words' that attract the NSA to your email.
For those flag words, see pages 20 & 21 here; http://www.scribd.com/doc/82701103/Analyst-Desktop-Binder-REDACTED
I'm burning mod points to state what I consider to be the obvious answer.
Contact your senators and tell them you want them to vote against this. They're supposed to represent the citizens of their state so make your voice heard. Of course there's no guarantee they'll listen but it's your responsibility to tell them how you want them to represent you.
If all you do is bitch about it on a website but make no effort to tell your senator (or worse, didn't vote at all) then you're not doing anything at all. This is supposed to be a representative government so pretend it still is and do your part.
Instead of bitching on /. have any of you assholes bothered to start a petition and actually take the time to write your senators and house reps?
Once again the government taking away our freedoms and rights. If they want to do that then everyone and I DO MEAN EVERYONE should put VERY INFLAMATORY signatures on their e-mails to FLOOD THE GOVENMENT AGENCY'S monitoring them. If every e-mail says JIHAD JIHAD JIHAD or BOMB the White House or Kill the senators then every alarm in thir system will fire off with every e-mail. If the SOB's want to UNLAWFULLY INVADE OUR MAIL then lets FLOOD THEM WITH IT.
Not for sense of security, but rather for free stuff.
It is the old school "Freedom vs. Free Beer" debate. You can't have both.
New Economic Perspectives
Not that I mean to imply that the government is protecting the constitution as well as they should be but mentioning the right to bear arms gets me going.
A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
What exactly is the "well regulated militia" doing in NYC?
Is 1563649 a prime number?
... all we have to do is get everyone to use PGP/GPG ... then they can read anything that is sent ... or try to ;)
I have found the original text that the house passed, which really only goes into about 3 sentences on video tape rentals.
How can I view the actual ammendment(s) that the Senate has added? The journalistic summaries are not good enough to sate my curiosity.
Anyone have a site link for this?
Where did you get the idea that Libertarians wanted to limit federal government but not limit state government?
Last I checked, the only government Libertarians wanted was just enough to protect property rights. Everything else was supposed to magically be taken care of by The Free Market.
so as this is illegal in canada , if i use gmail and yo uread it can i sue americans in canada or some such?
No it won't. The Constitution is just about meaningless these days.
It's not that it is meaningless -- sadly, Constitution just needs to be interpreted. I think the judges are really phoning it in.
For example "right against unreasonable searches" basically hinges on the meaning of "unreasonable". If a judge agrees that "police wanted to do it" means "reasonable", then Constitution won't protect you at all
Same with "cruel and unusual" punishment. As long as no punishment (e.g., 2 million fine for 10 songs) is recognized as "cruel and unusual", then Constitution does not apply
where is a petition against this that I can sign?
Hah! You might as well ask where is the response to that petition, because I assure you -- it has already been written (or it will be copy-pasted from this very bill).
Since anti-TSA petition got a response from the TSA director, who hasn't even pretended to address the complaints, I see no reason for writing a petition. He hasn't read the text of the "abolish TSA" petition, because he just responded by summarizing how great TSA is in his opinion (didn't argue with complaints, didn't promise to improve, just said "we are great and we have some awesome plans for the next 10 years").
..same as the old boss...
This Sen. Patrick Leahy is some kind of wolf in sheep's clothing.
Let's read HIS EMAIL and see who's paying him off. Dirty ol' bastard.
change free to "9.99 at walmart"
Here is where your voice can be heard. Send an email to your Senator, your Congressman and the party leader, President Obama and let them know your feelings about whether that is really the will of the people and not the for the special interest of law enforcement at the expense of the rest of the citizenry.
It is past time for legislative action. Both parties will ram through this legislation whether we like it or not, whether it is constitutional or not.
The Healthcare Act was pushed through despite overwhelming opposition.
No one has been prosecuted for waterboarding.
No one has been prosecuted for the warrantless wiretapping that occurred under the Bush administration.
No one has been prosecuted for the execution of an American citizen by drone strike, without arrest or trial. His name was Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, and he was 16 years old when he died. Our president says the decision "was an easy one." ( http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/world/obamas-leadership-in-war-on-al-qaeda.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all& )
You know, the Second Amendment may not be popular with everyone here, but it's a part of the Constitution just the same as the rest. The current administration killed a lot of innocent Mexicans just to provide a reason to limit guns here. "More than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States, many from gun shops that lay in our shared border," President Barack Obama said on a visit to Mexico on April 16, 2009. How did those guns get there, Mr. President?
It is time to start demanding accountability. If that means hauling some of these tyrants out of office by force, so be it.
My friend works for Verizon. He claims there is a "vault" in one of their data centers he worked in which is run by the NSA which no one - not even Verizon employees can enter. Now if that does not sound sinister I don't know what does.
Zero tolerance for fascists.
granted, they're not quartering troops in our homes....but there is no need to.
That's right; the 3rd Amendment was made obsolete by the 16th.
I'm disappointed in Leahy, how this person who usually speaks for privacy rights is now drafting something that hurts it is beyond me.
It's in the article; the bill, for certain agencies, allows a supeona instead of a warrant for intercepting emails. The interesting thing is among those agencies are the FCC, the FTC, the Fed (as in fed reserve), the SEC, the BCFP (consumer protection) and the Central-United Network for Terrorism, the well known agency that catalogs terrorism related intelligence. That last one is telling, a "regulatory" agency given power to intercept emails they deem to be to "dangerous to national security" to be left alone... In fact, I just lied, there is no Central-United Network for Terrorism, as the aware reader might have figured out by working out the initialism of the said fictious agency. Interestingly note the agencies given this power are financial regulators (amongst other regulators), not anyone really related to the justice department or DHS.
And I know you all mind some poor hapless corporation like Goldman Sachs having their emails punked--did you see the big bad government trying to weigh down on GS but the DOJ couldn't find any evidence to prosecute them for that small mishap in 2008 (which we all know the government caused!), and thank goodness too, freedom: 1, government: -128--because what hurts corporations hurts the people, of course (which are corporations, I mean).
So actually, I'm not too disappointed, until Leahy actually makes a statement for what this is for. I agree with the quoted lawyer, Erickson:
There is no good legal reason why federal regulatory agencies such as the NLRB, OSHA, SEC or FTC need to access customer information service providers with a mere subpoena. If those agencies feel they do not have the tools to do their jobs adequately, they should work with the appropriate authorizing committees to explore solutions. The Senate Judiciary committee is really not in a position to adequately make those determinations.
Honestly, this doesn't make much sense, ie., why should regulators have anything to do with DOJ? I agree with Erickson. So I guess I'm on hold until Leahy makes clear what this law is for.
IMHO just because someone votes for someone doesn't mean that the person who was voted for needs to do what the voter says. For example, if everyone voted for all the politicians to jump off a bridge would the politician do so? Where's the common sense of the elected officials? Certainly you don't expect that the majority of Americans are smarter than their elected officials...isn't that why we elect people...to represent us and make "good" decisions rather than capitulate to the demands of the people. It's laughable to me that common sense has taken a back seat to promises of prosperity and security that certainly cannot be provided without trampling over the very rights which convey that responsibility.
Stop moaning about the Government and:
Close Facebook and Twitter accounts
Start using PGP (and, if necessary, Tor)
What exactly is the "well regulated militia" doing in NYC?
Living there?
That's 97% of my email. Feds wanna read that be my fucking guest.
The NSA is already grabbing everything and storing it. The NSA can store all they want, it's only an intercept when a human sees it. So if they realize Mr. Smith may be worth investigating they can then pull every email/phone/whatever else they're storing up from the past and it's totally legal.
Why hasn't anyone written a good firefox plugin to make gmail GPG workable?
...the report is flawed...
They already do this anyway, nothing new
Two things our country is supposed to be a Republic not a Democracy...
Second it doesnt matter the part it is all politics and lets look at the definition of politics
Poly=many & Tic=Blood sucking insect
Hmmm that is about right
Haha, that obviously a joke by making fun of the country name, no need to take that serious huh?
New Economic Perspectives
Living there, working there....
A well regulated militia, well, regulated didn't mean what it means today. It meant trained. In fact, some advocated for mandatory firearm requirements. But with so many pacifist christian sects like Quakers and many anabaptists that idea was nixed.
But considering some of the crime leves in the 1970's, NYC could have probably done with more militia.
This is a naked power grab by the portion of our government that would prefer a police state.
Is this Constitutional? It seems against the IVth Amendment: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses papers, and effects,
against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by
Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized."
Seriously, what does the 4th Amendment in particular, or the Constitution in general, even apply to anymore? The government can subvert every single protection afforded in the Constitution simply by saying "It's a national security matter" (or even "It's a law enforcement matter") and every court in the country will simply turn its head and ignore it.
Seriously, what does the 4th Amendment in particular, or the Constitution in general, even apply to anymore? The government can subvert every single protection afforded in the Constitution simply by saying "It's a national security matter" (or even "It's a law enforcement matter") and every court in the country will simply turn its head and ignore it.
I don't think "national security matter" cuts it against the IVth Amendment. There are special judges for these situations. You have to get a warrant.
Lets everyone to Read Your E-mails...
Recipes for USA bankrupt - http://tinypaste.com/0d66f dd = dollar deluge (printed in the infinity)