If you haven’t done anything wrong, you have no reason to worry about your lack of privacy
April 16, 2009 by William K. Wolfrum
Glenn Greenwald, June 21, 2008:
The ACLU specifically identifies the ways in which this bill destroys meaningful limits on the President’s power to spy on our international calls and emails. Sen. Russ Feingold condemned the bill on the ground that it “fails to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans at home” because “the government can still sweep up and keep the international communications of innocent Americans in the U.S. with no connection to suspected terrorists, with very few safeguards to protect against abuse of this power.” Rep. Rush Holt — who was actually denied time to speak by bill-supporter Silvestre Reyes only to be given time by bill-opponent John Conyers — condemned the bill because it vests the power to decide who are the “bad guys” in the very people who do the spying.
WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by Congress last year, government officials said in recent interviews.
Several intelligence officials, as well as lawyers briefed about the matter, said the N.S.A. had been engaged in “overcollection” of domestic communications of Americans. They described the practice as significant and systemic, although one official said it was believed to have been unintentional.
How does that argument go again? Oh yeah: If you haven’t done anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about. At least, that used to be popular conservative thinking.
–WKW
I know, that one drives me nuts. I just faced that recently on one of the political boards I grace. I was very surprised when several members of various political persuasion backed me up.
Of course it took someone saying that the 4th amendment was helping “bad guys” and we didn’t need the 4th amendment.
I am hoping that pressure will build on Obama on this and force his hand to address the inconsistency of what he was saying during the election and the actions of his DOJ and intelligence agencies now. I don’t know that I would be able to support him again if he doesn’t straighten this one out. It’s very important to me.