Scariest thing since terrorism
Scarier I'd say, since you know when a terrorist kills you, and you might even get a chance to argue with him.
This is a frickin' long article (6 pages) but it's well worth reading. It's titled "FBI mines records of ordinary Americans" and talks about a few rights the Patriot Act gave to the government (or took from us, depending on how you look at it)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9939709/
Some teasers in the hope that you'll read:
"The FBI now issues more than 30,000 national security letters a year, according to government sources, a hundredfold increase over historic norms. The letters -- one of which can be used to sweep up the records of many people -- are extending the bureau's reach as never before into the telephone calls, correspondence and financial lives of ordinary Americans."
(security letters give an FBI agent the right to record telephone, correspondence, and financial records, and have further been used to justify tracking what websites people go to, what movies and books they buy or rent, and the extracurricular activities a person engages in at college - all without any suspicion of a person's guilt in any sort of crime)
"The Bush administration defeated legislation and a lawsuit to require a public accounting, and has offered no example in which the use of a national security letter helped disrupt a terrorist plot."
"In late 2003, the Bush administration reversed a long-standing policy requiring agents to destroy their files on innocent American citizens, companies and residents when investigations closed."
This is a frickin' long article (6 pages) but it's well worth reading. It's titled "FBI mines records of ordinary Americans" and talks about a few rights the Patriot Act gave to the government (or took from us, depending on how you look at it)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9939709/
Some teasers in the hope that you'll read:
"The FBI now issues more than 30,000 national security letters a year, according to government sources, a hundredfold increase over historic norms. The letters -- one of which can be used to sweep up the records of many people -- are extending the bureau's reach as never before into the telephone calls, correspondence and financial lives of ordinary Americans."
(security letters give an FBI agent the right to record telephone, correspondence, and financial records, and have further been used to justify tracking what websites people go to, what movies and books they buy or rent, and the extracurricular activities a person engages in at college - all without any suspicion of a person's guilt in any sort of crime)
"The Bush administration defeated legislation and a lawsuit to require a public accounting, and has offered no example in which the use of a national security letter helped disrupt a terrorist plot."
"In late 2003, the Bush administration reversed a long-standing policy requiring agents to destroy their files on innocent American citizens, companies and residents when investigations closed."