Well said Juan. I think this is why they passed the privacy act, to put the brakes on the government's collection of data about people.
Also I think their argument is basically semantic. They collect everything like a vacuum cleaner but only access the data in certain ways, using whatever critera that make something 'relevant' to terrorism and whatever else. It reminds me of quantum mechanics where the particle doesn't have a position until you measure it. The fact is, they are collecting as many of the communications as possible, and archiving them, maybe forever, and now we're just talking about the rules for searching the database.
I also agree that your privacy rights should include a right to communicate with people in other countries without fear of it going into your Department of Homeland Security file. That kind of thinking comes from the cold war when the communists were thought to be infiltrating social movements and building fifth columns. We should have government policies that promote international friendships on a personal level, which is good not only for US foreign relations in those places, but also world peace.
This is what J Edgar Hoover used to do. He had FBI agents looking for dirt on his political enemies, which he kept in special files in his office. Anthony Summers wrote a book called Official and Confidential about those files when he got them released by FOIA. This is pretty standard fare in the spy business, derogatory info is held back for blackmail/extortion, or released to destroy the person if he can't be controlled. What is unusual and illegal is to do this to a US citizen. I wonder if this is a unique case or were there other victims? That's what Congress should be asking. If you cant get congress to investigate it, get a prominent member of Congress to put his name on a FOIA request for all CIA records that mention you - get the heads of the intel oversight committees to do it, if they wont do an actual investigation. Geez I just looked up who your representatives are and one of them is Carl Levin. You go right to his office whenever you're finished doing whatever you're doing in Amsterdam. (lol)
I agree, the protesters have lost the initiative by announcing a Friday deadline and having nothing planned for when Mubarak didn't resign.
Excellent point in the original blog about the consititution providing for the VP to step in. That would have diffused the tension and should have been the obvious solution.
I think it would be a mistake to jump ahead with a UN vote on membership for Palestine. The next move is for more countries to follow in the footsteps of Argentina and Brazil. It is crucial that the EU recognize Palestine as a state before forcing the US veto in the UN. Surprisingly, both France and Spain are lobbying for EU recognition. Another advocate is Javier Solana, so this is not a far fetched strategy at all. I made some other comments on this the other night on Press TV:
Well said Juan. I think this is why they passed the privacy act, to put the brakes on the government's collection of data about people.
Also I think their argument is basically semantic. They collect everything like a vacuum cleaner but only access the data in certain ways, using whatever critera that make something 'relevant' to terrorism and whatever else. It reminds me of quantum mechanics where the particle doesn't have a position until you measure it. The fact is, they are collecting as many of the communications as possible, and archiving them, maybe forever, and now we're just talking about the rules for searching the database.
I also agree that your privacy rights should include a right to communicate with people in other countries without fear of it going into your Department of Homeland Security file. That kind of thinking comes from the cold war when the communists were thought to be infiltrating social movements and building fifth columns. We should have government policies that promote international friendships on a personal level, which is good not only for US foreign relations in those places, but also world peace.
This is what J Edgar Hoover used to do. He had FBI agents looking for dirt on his political enemies, which he kept in special files in his office. Anthony Summers wrote a book called Official and Confidential about those files when he got them released by FOIA. This is pretty standard fare in the spy business, derogatory info is held back for blackmail/extortion, or released to destroy the person if he can't be controlled. What is unusual and illegal is to do this to a US citizen. I wonder if this is a unique case or were there other victims? That's what Congress should be asking. If you cant get congress to investigate it, get a prominent member of Congress to put his name on a FOIA request for all CIA records that mention you - get the heads of the intel oversight committees to do it, if they wont do an actual investigation. Geez I just looked up who your representatives are and one of them is Carl Levin. You go right to his office whenever you're finished doing whatever you're doing in Amsterdam. (lol)
Excellent point, would be great if some newspaper reporters knew this.
I agree, the protesters have lost the initiative by announcing a Friday deadline and having nothing planned for when Mubarak didn't resign.
Excellent point in the original blog about the consititution providing for the VP to step in. That would have diffused the tension and should have been the obvious solution.
I think it would be a mistake to jump ahead with a UN vote on membership for Palestine. The next move is for more countries to follow in the footsteps of Argentina and Brazil. It is crucial that the EU recognize Palestine as a state before forcing the US veto in the UN. Surprisingly, both France and Spain are lobbying for EU recognition. Another advocate is Javier Solana, so this is not a far fetched strategy at all. I made some other comments on this the other night on Press TV:
http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/154325.html
There must be tons of cables about Israel. It's just not what the NY Times saw fit to print.