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Comparing information and knowledge is like asking whether the fatness of a pig is more or less green than the designated hitter rule." -- David Guaspari
Re:Snowden (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Snowden (Score:5, Informative)
I don't recall them ever mentioning either Guy Fawkes or the Gunpowder Plot anywhere in the Federalist Papers or anywhere else.
HOWEVER the wrote the following for sure:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.
Re:Wrong by law (Score:5, Informative)
There is absolutely nothing illegal about the orders or about the fact of the wiretapping that NSA has been accused and admitted to. Your definition of "illegal" posts as much weight as "Applekid and any other unapologetic assumptionists of this thoughtless dreck illegally posting on the Slashdot!"
You're right in that my definition of illegal doesn't matter, but unless sageres is an alias for a justice Hugo Black, your opinion doesn't matter either. Katz v. United States established a "reasonable expectation of privacy" and the NSA clearly violated it. In turn, a violation of citizen's fourth amendment rights.
Re:Wrong by law (Score:5, Informative)
I very much agree, what he did is against the law, but I don't think I would call it wrong.
I'd side with the NSA a bit more if they were chasing down this sort of garbage [800notes.com] and passing it on to someone for investigation/prosecution or at least to the telco so this sort of spoofing wouldn't be able to happen again.
Re:Wrong by law (Score:5, Informative)
The wiretapping orders directly violate the 4th amendment. The Supreme Court has made rulings on the limitations of executive orders in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 US 579 (1952) and more recently in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld(2006). Both rulings limit the presidents ability to use executive orders to override laws created by congress.
"The decision may have important implications for other disputes relating to the extent of executive power and the unitary executive theory. In particular, it may undermine the Bush administration's legal arguments for domestic wiretapping by the National Security Agency without warrants as required by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act."
The actions from the executive branch are in direct conflict of both Congress and the Supreme Court in laws and rulings created within the past 10 years. If you think there is "nothing illegal" about this, then you have no understanding of the even the most primitive aspects of American government with respect to the bill of rights and the 3 branches of government designed to act as checks and balances.
Re:Wrong by law (Score:4, Informative)
That court approval is called a warrant, "and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause..." Since they don't have probable cause, the warrants are themselves illegal, and knowingly using an illegal warrant makes you complicit.
Re:Wrong by law (Score:4, Informative)
Um, the press *did* break this story. The UK's Guardian and the US's Washington Post originally carried the story; they have to get their original information from somewhere and it's a bit difficult to get this kind of information through traditional investigative journalism; they needed a whistleblower, and Snowden provided one. That said, both those papers deserve some kudos for being amongst the few left that are actually still doing their own investiagative journalism instead of just reprinting the latest "news" off the PR wires and padding it with celebrity gossip for every issue.
What I don't get is why Snowden chose to go public with his identity when and in the manner that he did. If his aim was to expose the massive levels of surveillance that are going on, regardless of whether or not most educated people suspected as much, then why turn it into a media circus centred on the latest episode of "Where's Edward?" instead of allowing the press to focus on the core issue?