AUTHOR STUDS TERKEL wrote an op/ed in today's New York Times calling for the American people to take action.Because the American government can wiretap your phones and read your e-mails anytime they want.
"The White House and the Senate Intelligence Committee proposed a bill that legitimized blanket wiretapping without individual warrants," he wrote. "The legislation directly conflicts with the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, requiring the government to obtain a warrant before reading the e-mail messages or listening to the telephone calls of its citizens, and to state with particularity where it intends to search and what it expects to find."
Do you still have the right to free speech? Is there an issue here or is this the government acting in your best interests? Aren't they really just trying to protect you?
8 comments:
Didn't we just make a fuss about China convincing Yahoo to help it censor the internet?
The entire idea is bullshit.
My e-mail doesn't contain any lolfests. Sorry government.
Blanket wiretapping is the next step to a police state. I agree with Studs Terkel; we need to take action. I am not opposed to CCTV in public and pseudo-public places so this may seem contradictory, but when I make a cell phone call or send out an email I don't send it via Uncle Sam. I am making a one to one correspondence. So, what if I make a call in a public place and someone over hears it. They are not purposely seeking out my interaction; they are not infringing on my privacy. I should talk lower or go home. But our judicial system is based on the idea of innocent until proven guilty. Blanket wiretapping assumes everyone guilty until proven innocent.
Yeah. There's really nothing we can do about it. And we probably only know half the story. Who knows what else they are looking at? Is this blog another government monitor?
But then I guess principle doesn't matter to me because I feel I have nothing to hide. Except my illegal immigrant status..
The immigration and naturalization services have been notified of your illegal status. Expect a knock on you door any minute.
- George (the joking teacher)
Thank God my parents are here legally.
lol,
Jess
I recently had to write an assignment of two press releases, each arguing a side of this debate. After I finished, I found that even though I tend to disagree with Bush on practically everything, I tend to side with the government's actions in this case. People still have their right to privacy in other aspects, but the government has a job to protect us from terrorist attacks. Domestic wiretapping HAS brought in some suspicious al-Qaeda efforts in the U.S. since the Patriot Act was amended to allow it. I do not feel that my rights are being violated simply because government is keeping us safe in any way possible. I'd rather have them snoop my conversations with Mom than be a victim to a terrorist attack on American soil.
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