In that case, the Obama administration has argued that warrantless tracking is permitted because Americans enjoy no "reasonable expectation of privacy" in their--or at least their cell phones'--whereabouts. [More]Truly.
Since when is expecting fascists to respect privacy reasonable?
9 comments:
Link is broken David...
Fixed--thanks--always try title link too--I include the More link for feed readers.
Tracking my phone conversations? I suggest instead that they grow eyes in the back of their heads.
and we feed-feeders appreciate it.
And my associates thought I was nuts for removing the battery from my mobile phone when I wasn't making phone calls...
4th Amendment?? We don' need no steenkin' 4th Amendment!!
So, let me get this straight; if the call were on a conventional land line, they'd need a warrant, but because it's on a digitally pulsed signal bouncing off of a satellite, they don't need one?
I'd say that pretty much makes the case in court, right there.
theirritablearchitect,
No, if they have suspicion of "terrorism" they don't need one in either case.
This has nothing to do with the Obama administration - the National Security Agency has been in bed with telecom since the 1940's in what is essentially a domestic Counter-Insurgency operation. Recent info shows that the FBI required telecom companies to have staff in their wiretap rooms. The FBI would literally lean over and say, "Get me all the info on this number, and get it right now."
It's not just telephone calls, it's "Communit[ies] of Interest" - i.e. social networking analysis. If you have a friend that's just too reactionary or radical, you're a target too. They do the same thing with your emails and IP/MAC address (for tracking your internet usage). It's proven in the linked report that the data from telecom collections (email, internet, phone) is then put into two highly indexed databases, one ran by the FBI, the other ran by the NSA (it could even be as simple as a Microsoft SQL database). This data is probably used to generate a highly accurate profile on you. Once the you enter the database, information could continue to be collected automatically, without the need of contacting telecom companies.
How do you think we've generated a million people on a terrorist watch list? It's people like us, the crazy ones who respect liberty as an American tradition.
f_a,
I think I'm going to have to disagree with you about some of this.
The read that I took from the piece would indicate that this is something that is, as stated clearly in the article, rather gray, "...the legal ground rules remain unclear, and federal privacy laws written a generation ago are ambiguous at best," even if it's a practice that's become somewhat common, of which I have little doubt.
Oh, and since when was I getting accusatorial on this issue with the Obama administration? You should promptly excuse yourself for that, as I'm not one to cut any slack for anyone ,or any agency, that is wantonly violating the principles of the Constitution, regardless of administration.
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