I understand that sometimes people need to be monitored. On the other hand, governments need to be monitored even more.
The current headlines about domestic spying are garnering my interest.
The revelations come amid a fierce congressional debate over reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act, an anti-terrorism law passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The Patriot Act granted the FBI new powers to conduct secret searches and surveillance in the United States.
Most of the powers covered under that law are overseen by a secret court that meets at Justice Department headquarters and must approve applications for wiretaps, searches and other operations. The NSA’s operation is outside that court’s purview, and according to the Times report, the Justice Department may have sought to limit how much that court was made aware of NSA activities.
Public disclosure of the NSA program also comes at a time of mounting concerns about civil liberties over the domestic intelligence operations of the U.S. military, which have also expanded dramatically after the Sept. 11 attacks.”
Should we spy on people we think are terrorists? Probably. Should we have secret courts that make decisions about who terrorists are? Probably not, in my humble opinion. I think we need to tread really, really carefully here. I’m not a fan of the Patriot Act. Not at all.
A conference report by Senate and House negotiators to extend for four years provisions of the USA Patriot Act includes a comprehensive anti-methamphetamine package restricting the sale of products containing ingredients needed to cook the drug and providing new tools to police and prosecutors to combat dealers.”
We are already seeing extra-special drug war clauses getting thrown in. Drug addicts are not terrorists. What else will Congress add as the years go by? Mission creep is gonna get us if we’re not careful.
The renewal of the Patriot Act has been blocked. Good. Let’s talk about it some more before we do anything most of us will live to regret.