Since 9/11 the US gov has been allowed to act massively outside of the law...including the anti-wiretap laws enacted after decades of abuse like McCarthyism and Watergate. Personally, I think we as a people need to make a stand against the current McCarthyisms.


Why Metadata Matters
 

If the President's administration really welcomes a robust debate on the government's surveillance power, it needs to start being honest about the invasiveness of collecting your metadata.

86 Civil Liberties Groups and Internet Companies Demand an End to NSA Spying

We are calling on Congress to take immediate action to halt this surveillance and provide a full public accounting of the NSAs and the FBIs data collection programs. We call on Congress to immediately and publicly:
1. Enact reform this Congress to Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act, the state secrets privilege, and the FISA Amendments Act to make clear that blanket surveillance of the Internet activity and phone records of any person residing in the U.S. is prohibited by law and that violations can be reviewed in adversarial proceedings before a public court;
2. Create a special committee to investigate, report, and reveal to the public the extent of this domestic spying. This committee should create specific recommendations for legal and regulatory reform to end unconstitutional surveillance;
3. Hold accountable those public officials who are found to be responsible for this unconstitutional surveillance.

The NSAs Word Games Explained: How the Government Deceived Congress in the Debate over Surveillance Powers

Lots of words can have multiple definitions to fire can mean to discharge a firearm or to glaze pottery in a kiln. But if youre asked if you fired a gun, theyre not asking if you put it in a kiln.

I sure hope that most American's can put aside the propaganda and see reality. The issues are NOT red/blue or left/right regardless of what politicians try to spin. The issues are of your civil rights and a fight against those traitors to the American way of life and the constitution we Americans hold dear.

Sacrificing our rights and freedoms as a people means THE TERRORISTS WIN.

=======================

The Government Wants A Backdoor Into Your Online Communications

Those of us who actually manage network security all know that these backdoors only present more exploit vectors and a true "ticking timebomb" set to explode at multiple levels of network infrastructure.

If anyone wishes to review the PDF article describing the risks involved in endpoint wiretap modifications which I am almost wholly in agreement with, you can find the link here; https://www.cdt.org/blogs/joseph-lorenzo-hall/1705leading-security-experts-say-fbi-wiretapping-proposal-would-undermine-

What is not discussed is the ramifications dealing with all the attempts to circumvent/disable the fedwares that will occur and the scams that will crop up pitching the ways and means to disable them. My concerns also extend to the legal issues that ordinary users will face for circumvention.

Related; A backdoor into Skype for the Feds?

Land of the free?...where's that at?

======================

Example of what idiotic internet czars can think of; http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9239547/Commission_wants_to_turn_tables_on_IP_thieves_by_crippling_PCs_with_extortion_style_lock_outs

Do we really want idiots deciding the fate of a so called free society?

=======================

I think it will come as no shock to hear that most politicians are sold to the highest bidder(fascist corporation lobbyists).

I think Schneier pretty well puts some of the effects together here; https://www.schneier.com/essay-423.html

I also think it is fortunate that not all citizens have become complacent. Also related by Schneier; http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2013/06/trading_privacy_1.html

I also think it is fortunate that not all citizens are willing to wear blinders. Hopefully there are enough of us left that are still concerned with civil liberties and our constitutionally guaranteed rights so that these fascists can be curtailed.

=========================
 

The issues are NOT red/blue or left/right regardless of what politicians try to spin.

The politics of it could actually be funny if it wasn't such a sad state of affairs;

http://youtu.be/m4SRCOouw5I
 

...the scope of NSA surveillance program has not changed much since 2006, except for the occupant in the White House.

Ref; https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/06/watch-2013-president-obama-debate-2006-joe-biden-over-nsa-surveillance

========================

A few more links of interest c/o Suzi @ http://spywarewarrior.com/viewtopic.php?t=34906

Al Gore: NSA's secret surveillance program 'not really the American way'


Why I Have Nothing to Hide Is the Wrong Way to Think About Surveillance

Related; The Value of Privacy