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Jim Lehrer asked President Bush about the warrantless spying on Americans he authorized after 9/11. Bush smirked and said that is not the big story; the Iraqi election is the big story. Sorry, Mr. Emperor, you don't get to decide what the big story is. By any reasonable standard, government spying on innocent people is a far bigger story than any voting in Iraq. Hey, we vote here, but it didn't prevent this example of government oppression.
. . . And what about the Bill of Rights -- supposedly a higher law than any mere federal statute? The entire domestic war on terror -- and, for that matter, almost all of what Bush had done -- is unconstitutional under the Tenth and other amendments.
Andrew D. Todd -
12/18/2005
Suppose one goes about the business of telephone tapping the way one goes about the business of telephone sales. That is:
1. Use computers to the utmost extent feasible, even to the point of tolerating erroneous results at the limits of the computer's ability.
2. Use third-world employees at fifty cents an hour to backstop the computers.
3. Bring in American employees only at the last stages.
This formula has reached the point where if your telephone rings, it is probably a telemarketer. Why should telephone tapping be less ubiquitous? On the basis described above, it ought to be technically feasible to tap at least a million telephones with minimal visibility. Given the extent of telephone company automation, the vast majority of telephone company employees would not need to know about it (*). The only immediate restraints are the ethics of a few people. "Mission Creep" and computers, applied to something like President Nixon's "enemies list," would result in hundreds of thousands of people being targeted. In the long term, the only defense against mass espionage is mass encryption. Michael Swaine of Dr. Dobbs' Journal has pointed out that the Second Amendment applies to cipher machines and telephone scramblers as well as guns.
(*) When the telephone company goes on strike, nothing happens to the telephone service, because it is all so automatic.
Keith Halderman -
12/18/2005
Also, keep in mind that it was the NSA that did the spying and the law which formed that agency expressly forbade it from spying on America citizens. The case is pure and simple, Geroge Bush directed one of the entities under his command to break the law.
Sheldon Richman -
12/18/2005
It is unreasonable for the government to spy on people without probable cause and without having the theoreticaly independent judicial branch ratify the action with a proper warrant. If we must live with government for the time being, this is the least (and really, it isn't much) we should expect to keep the executive branch somewhat in check. The odd thing is that Bush could have gone to the highly lenient secret court that has jurisdiction in such matters, but he didn't even do that! How many times does do we have to catch the government at this kind of mischief before we stop it?
Mike Borts -
12/18/2005
Who were the "innocent" people being spied upon and how were you oppressed by this action.
I don't see you being limited in your discourse on this matter.
Is it unreasonable for the government to spy on people suspected of illegal activities,I would like to know who was being spied on and for what reason,before condemning the governments action.
