Should the goverment be able to check our E-Mail?

[Guest Paranoid]

Personally I think this is bullshit. There is a string of words that the goverment uses and if any of those words pop up then your cpu will be under investigation. That according to the new Homeland Sercurity Bill that passed. Am I the only one that think this is a total invasion of privacy?

[Guest TJH]

Monitoring civilians without evidence, or without being part of a police operation should be illegal. The system as you stated is to open to manipulation.

[Guest J*ingus]

In a word, no. This is invasion of privacy. But these days, what else is new?

[Guest NoCalMike]

yah and the fucking Dumb-o-crats just blindly and cowardly vote this shit in AGAIN. 90-9......wtf is going on?? It is time for a purge in the government.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Not only is it an invasion of privacy, but a disgustingly glaring one at that.

[Guest NoCalMike]

yah and I thought republicans were totally for LESS GOVERNMENT!?!

[Guest Mad Dog]

They have to get a warrant to do it guys. They can't just decide that they want to start checking your e-mail one day. They've got to go to court for an order and have evidence like they always have.

[Guest Tyler McClelland]

Bullshit, according to this and other laws passed, they can get a GENERAL WARRANT and moniter emails, phone conversations, etc.

[Guest Mad Dog]

Yeah. And to get a general warrant you have to show evidence that your up to something.

[Guest NoCalMike]

yes, but the whole "up to something" line has been blurred now by this bill.

[Guest evenflowDDT]

They've been spying on immigrants, particularly those of Middle Eastern origin, since 9/11 without warrants. Since Big Brother's watching anyway he might as well watch everyone...

 

terrorist, threat bomb, tomorrow, Iraq, owns, al Qaeda, skyscraper, World Trade Center, Jihad, justified, crack, No War, marijuana, CIA, hero, Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Ladan

 

...maybe now that they're watching me they'll listen to what I have to say. I doubt it, but one can always hope, right?

[Guest Paranoid]

They have to get a warrant to do it guys. They can't just decide that they want to start checking your e-mail one day. They've got to go to court for an order and have evidence like they always have.

No they don't either. With the new Hamland Sercurity Bill that just passed, if they seem fit to check you out according to the "warning signs" then they can. No warrant needed.

[Guest Tyler McClelland]

Actually, upon further research, the bill allows for the government to make a file on every US Citizen which will include every recordable piece of information (including medical records, transactions, etc).

 

Big Brother indeed.

[Guest Some Guy]

I wonder if "Osama bin Laden" is one of the keywords they'er using? If so they'll get to see a hell of a lot of goofy pictures of him with the Empire State Building shoved up his ass and stuff.

 

I don't really care too much about the Gov't checking my E-Mail, I get nothing tht would even remotely incriminate me for anything.

Besides is E-mail considered private property? It sesm to me that the internet is public domain and E-mail is part fo that. But I don't know for sure.

[Guest El Satanico]

No they shouldn't be allowed to. I don't care what reason they give they shouldn't be allowed to do it. I don't like any of this stuff they have passed under that banner of "Homeland Security". The future danger that weaker privacy laws CAN result in is a bigger deal than whatever good the government THINKS can come from it.

 

The sad thing is that many Americans don't have a problem giving up freedoms just so that they can THINK they are safe from "terrorists". They want to fight "terrorism" yet they agree with giving up some of their freedom when that's one of the goals of these terrorists. It makes no sense, but i guess we Americans value a false sense of security above everything else.

[Guest Some Guy]

I'm not sure it's a false sense of security. A lot of criminals have been caught as a result of phone tapping and such and why would terrorists be much different at least in that sense? If you can check the e-mail of suspicious people and stop a crime or terrorist act then it's worth it.

 

You guys act like some FBI guy is going to read through all your private e-mail or something. Do you realize how many e-mails aer sent everyday? They wouldn't have time to bother with that shit. I'm reasonably sure that they would only be granted warrants for those which seem very suspicious, like "Let's kill Americans" or something.

[Guest El Satanico]

The problem isn't that they do it. The problem is that they can do it.

[Guest Tyler McClelland]

No, this simply means they'll have to plan their attacks overseas while the US spies on their own citizens. Great trade-off, eh?

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

Guys, I wouldn't doubt the Government has been spying on it's own citizen's email since email began.

[Guest El Satanico]

Guys, I wouldn't doubt the Government has been spying on it's own citizen's email since email began.

You're right cobain and i was meaning to say that in my first post. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the government has been spying on it's citizens long before this...now it just happens to be legal.

 

But of course such thoughts gets one labeled a paranoid nut case.

[Guest Tyler McClelland]

...and this will be the last we hear about it anyway, so...

 

Our tax dollars at work, funding our government to spy on us.

[Guest Olympic Slam]

Why do we need complex databases, spying, and other intrusiveness when we know full well who the enemy is in this war on terror? Go straight to the source and use, gasp, actual profiling rather than spying on Americans like little old ladies and Internet dork's email accounts

[Guest Tyler McClelland]

Because ANYONE CAN BE A TERRORIST.

 

[Guest Olympic Slam]

Because ANYONE CAN BE A TERRORIST.

 

I wish our government had the balls to come out and say that the U.S is in a war against radical Islam. Our political corectness and softness is the reason stuff like this Homeland Security bill and long lines at the airport have come about.

[Guest DrTom]

General reply:

 

The government has been granted broad new powers in the last year, both in the tragically-misnamed Patriot Act, and now the Homeland Security carte blanche. They can tap you phone line or monitor your email as long as they have a good reason for it, and they can continue that surveillance indefinitely. They can even go into your home when you're not there and look around, simply because they suspect you of being a terrorist. This does require a general warrant, but the kicker is that they don't have to tell you about it for two weeks afterwars ("sneak-and-peek" authority, it's called).

 

The last thing we should be doing is sacrificing our freedoms because of terrorist attacks. We should maintain our way of life as a giant middle finger to those who struck at us before and will strike at us again. Everything the government has done in regards to "homeland security" has been a misstep.

 

The capability to spy on email has indeed existed for years (an FBI program called Carnivore), but required warrants to implement. So no, the government wasn't spying on every piece of email sent, since they simply don't have the resources to do it.

 

We know who the terrorists are, but since we're so goddamn opposed to possibly offending everyone, we refuse to come right out and say it. This is despite the fact that Arab males between 18 and 40 have carried out all the external terrorist attacks against the US since 1993. No, we have to be sensitive and politically correct, and frisk Chinese grandmothers on the nonexistent chance that she's got a bomb somewhere in her Depends. Look at it this way: 3000 Americans have already died for political correctness, and more will follow.

 

The sad thing is that many Americans don't have a problem giving up freedoms just so that they can THINK they are safe from "terrorists".

Amen. To paraphrase Ben Franklin, those who would trade liberty for safety deserve neither. I don't want the government reading my email and going thru my things. It's not that I have something to hide. it's that I'm a goddamn American and they fucking shouldn't be doing it. But people are willing to piss their basic rights away, all in the name of catching terrorists who won't be caught by any of these measures. It's very much a false sense of security.

 

You want security? Go look for it in the grave.

[Guest NoCalMike]

the problem with things like this is that there are gonna be all these guys in the office trying to be a hero and they are gonna go after stupid leads because "key words" were used, and all this wasted time and effort will result in NOTHING, while any supposed REAL terrorists skips and hops in the country. Furthermore, the government hasn't explained how ANY OF THIS would have prevented 9/11.

[Guest DrTom]

On a related note to the keywords thing, I have a friend who randomly inserts menacing things into his phone conversations, just to fuck with whomever might be listening. He'll say something like...

 

"blah blah blah OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT blah blah blah blah."

"blah blah blah I HAVE A BOMB blah blah blah."

 

It's kind of funny to hear him say things like that. Nothing's happened to him so far, but since the chances are better that someone's listening now, I wonder how much longer he'll be able to get away with it and laugh about it.

[Guest TJH]

I'm not an American, but surely this kind of thing would be unconstitutional?

 

This is despite the fact that Arab males between 18 and 40 have carried out all the external terrorist attacks against the US since 1993.

 

I agree with your point, but what about Oklahoma City?

[Guest Paranoid]

Guys, I wouldn't doubt the Government has been spying on it's own citizen's email since email began.

I thought I was the Paranoid one here! But seriously that is a damn good point and I have thought that for a long time now. It's not right and to answer the guy above me, yes, it is unconstitutional.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

If their gonna read e-mails it better be people with suspected ties to terrorism.