Anyone that takes a few minutes and studies what has transpired over the past few days will have to sit back and really ask themselves a couple of questions. First of all some political opponents of the President are standing up and calling for hearings and making conspiracy comments, yet at the same time it has been revealed that these same political party members attended the closed door briefings on this issue and congressional delegations apparently visited the NSA as well. But as they stand in front of a camera they conveniently neglect to mention that they had been read into the program.
What is also amazing from a technical perspective is that unless you have been living under a rock is that call records have been available a very long time that allow Joe average citizen to buy call records. Everything I have read and seen indicates no voice conversations were recorded.
The government employee who revealed the information though needs to be found! Individuals that reveal classified material in this way need to have the book thrown at them. You know what they say “loose lips sink ships”, In this case Loose Lips may cause Americans to be harmed when terrorist change there tactics, and make it harder for those that protect us to do their jobs.
I am all about privacy but I am also realistic enough to understand that there are probably people living among us that want nothing more than to destroy the fabric of our society. God forbid another attacks happen against this country, but when, and if it does we should hope that these irresponsible individuals that have loose lips, that in all likelihood have diminished our countries capacity to prevent such events are found out, tried and punished accordingly.
One more thing Todd,
I know that you support EFF a lot and I’m not trying to stop you from doing that, but it is things like this that make me not want to give money to them. I do agree with their stance on most issues, but there are certain things like this one that make me sit back and think a little before I donate my time or money to them. Just something to think about.
-Andrew
Todd,
I agree with you 150%. How in the world anyone can get upset about the government collecting information that is easily available to anyone is beyond me. Further, to make it a political matter is even more ironic. It is not a political matter – it is a governmental matter. Does anyone not think that things like this have been going on for decades now? I just don’t get it. I pay the government good money (taxes – and anyone who actually pays taxes know what I am talking about) to keep me safe. If they want to look at my phone records then they can go ahead and do it.
You mentioned that you hadn’t heard yet that any actual phone calls had been listened in on. Let’s look at this from another viewpoint though…assume that the government actually does give a flip about what you are talking on the phone about…think about how many people it would take to listen in to those phone calls. I’m not an expert, but I wouldn’t be out of line if I said that it was physically IMPOSSIBLE to listen in to every phone call in America. Taking a look at my phone records does me absolutely no harm and I have yet to hear from anyone who has been personally affected in a negative way by the government tracking who you call.
My opinion is is that if you are worrying about the government spying on you then you need to get a life because you obviously don’t have enough to do.
How was the fact that the government was buying our phone records from various phone companies in any way classified? It wasn’t classified. It’s illegal, but not classified. My phone records, your phone records, etc are NOT classified. The fact that the government was able to obtain these records without a warrant is appalling. If the government wants a log of calls I as an American citizen have made, it should go to a judge and obtain a warrant or a court order. Read the Fourth Amendment Todd. It says:
“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.”
The government lacked probable cause to justify accessing my phone records. You have recently come out and told everyone that you are an enlisted member of the United States Navy. I commend you in your service. With that said, it pains me to see you defend the President when he has clearly stepped outside his bounds concerning his authority. He like yourself took an oath to defend the Constitution. He is not doing that. In fact, he is now acting as though the Constitution doesn’t exist.