Now that you know the NSA spies on americans, will that change your posting habits?

[JohnBT]

I'm not worried about the government reading my posts; they've been reading my thoughts for years.

Merry Christmas everyone.

John

 

[robert garner]

I dont even hide my name

Turkey creek; when did you stop beating your wife?
I don't fear my govt at least any more than a Clydesdale
who might just squush you with no EVIL intent.

 

[Waitone]

Yup! Why get huffy now over lost liberties when tapping has been going on for 30+ years. Why the outrage over phone calls when the same president aided and abetted by the same congress passed legislation which shut down free speech before an election. Historically, tpolitical free speech was the only free speech recognized by the Bill of Rights. Yet, congress puts a knife in its gizzard and no one complains.

I am convinced THR has been visited by Agent Schmuckatelli doing a little chumming. About a month ago a "kid" rode in claiming to be well underage and a good street fighter. He wanted advice on what kind of handgun to get. Well, the grey hairs on the board jumped him about his pathetic grammar, syntax and punctuation. Immediately thereafter all three cleaned right up. I'm convinced the THR was being probed and Agent Schmuckatelli was on the job.
<and no, I can't find the URL>

 

[Oldtimer]

Lowracer

You have it on "good authority" that "they" are reading this forum and posts are being logged on NSA computers for "later collation, interrogation, confiscation and incarceration"??????

WHO is the "good authority"? Who is the "they" that are reading this forum?

Also, "according to one web site", "federal agents are setting up huge barbed wire interment camps in the Utah deserts for wholesale warehousing of American citizens"????? What "web site"? Where in Utah?

I'm not "bashing" you, per se, but when you start posting vague information such as this, I can't help but think that YES, the "S" has already "HTF", but it's in the way of DISINFORMATION and HYSTERIA-based fecal matter! Can you be more explicit with your information?

 

[Lobotomy Boy]

Of course the Fed has probably already gone too far. It is just a matter of where is the tipping point.

For me that point got a lot closer yesterday when the Bush administration said that it didn't need FISA warrants because article two of the legislation authorizing war in Afghanisatn after 9/11 exempted the President from the jurisdiction of any legal statute.

It's interesting how there was no uproar when the FBI was spending much of their time tracking legal fertilizer purchases by farmers while Al-Queda communicated with people in the US to set up 9/11.

One of the arguments promoted by those who are willing to give up our freedom for the illusion of safety is that acting in an unconstitutional manner has meant that there have been no further terrorist attacks. That's like saying that tracking legal fertilizer purchases by farmers prevented the 9/11 terrorist attack. What has the government done to make us safer besides suspend our constitutional rights? The most obvious example that I can think of is that I have to take off my shoes every time I go through airport security. Geez, that certainly makes me feel safer and is well worth suspending our Constitutional rights.

The fact is that the main reason we haven't had a terrorist attack since 9/11 is that we temporarily disrupted al Quaeda when we started a war in Afghanistan. This was the single best move we made in the war on terror. Unfortunately before we could accomplish that mission we got distracted in an ill-timed and ill-conceived war in Iraq. If we really cared about stopping terrorism we would have finished the job in Afghanistan. If we'd have invested the resources squandered in Iraq into hunting down every last al Quaeda and Taliban member in Afghanistan, then rebuilding the country's infrastructure and economy, creating a stable nation-state in the heart of the Muslim world, we would have gone a lot further towards making the world safer from terrorism than suspending any of our Constitutional freedoms.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

This has got to be one of the most naive thread topics I have seen in a long time. This one and others are public forums that can be viewed by anyone. D'uh.

 

[Waitone]

Also, "according to one web site", "federal agents are setting up huge barbed wire interment camps in the Utah deserts for wholesale warehousing of American citizens"????? What "web site"? Where in Utah?

Take a gander right here http://permanent.access.gpo.gov/websites/icegov/www.ice.gov/graphics/dro/endgame.pdf

Then at your leisure google-up "Endgame" and "Office of detention and removal strategic plan 2003-2012"

If you're prone to need tinfoil and duct tape this 'un will send you over the edge.

 

[scubie02]

OT--I think his post was meant to be sarcastic...

You have it on "good authority" that "they" are reading this forum and posts are being logged on NSA computers for "later collation, interrogation, confiscation and incarceration"??????

WHO is the "good authority"? Who is the "they" that are reading this forum?

Also, "according to one web site", "federal agents are setting up huge barbed wire interment camps in the Utah deserts for wholesale warehousing of American citizens"????? What "web site"? Where in Utah?

I'm not "bashing" you, per se, but when you start posting vague information such as this, I can't help but think that YES, the "S" has already "HTF", but it's in the way of DISINFORMATION and HYSTERIA-based fecal matter! Can you be more explicit with your information?

 

[bogie]

You think an article in the New York Times changes anything?

I think it may have made a lot of the terrorists change their communication methods. I'll bet that sigint has dropped, or has essentially become worthless with false information.

 

[Master Blaster]

NO

 

[xd9fan]

on who I vote for....yes

 

[Pilot]

No. The NSA only spies on those whe RECEIVE CALLS from top Al Queda Operatives. Since I don't receive calls from AL Queda, I will not change my habits. What a ridiculous question in the first place. You obviously believe the lies told to you by the Democrats and mainstream media.

 

[Biker]

If this is the case, Pilot, then why bypass the courts? If a tap can be placed 72 hours prior to applying for a warrant, why not do it legally?
Biker

 

[Trip20]

Watching the news last night... the talking head stated that both the Clinton and Reagan administration did the same darn thing that the Bush administration has done.

Is this true?

One of their guests also stated NO administration needs to obtain a warrant when listening for information... & that the warrant is only necessary when procuring information for purposes of evidence as it relates to a criminal trial.

Is this true?

 

[Biker]

Whether or not it's true Trip20, it's time for it to stop. Unless of course, the Constitution is just a G** Da** piece of paper.
Biker

 

[riverdog]

Monitoring boards such as this requires so little skill anyone can do it; why would the gov't need to use NSA? Hell, any rookie cop with a computer can do it, why waste the time of some high dollar mathematicians and computer scientists. It's not rocket science.

Now if you guys start encrypting your posts, using codewords and routing through a server in Beijing, then maybe the NSA would be interested -- for the 2 seconds it takes to figure out the content.

I'm not concerned.

 

[blackguns]

I am in my 20's (not for too much longer) and I have grown up almost totally in the computer generation. Honestly, I never had the expectation of privacy. EVREYTHING important is computerized, the US military invented the internet and the alphabet agencies have quietly dominated the practical use of computers since the beggining.

Secuirty software doesn't exist that NSA can't get into in short order. Someone posted about encrypted information. In a practical sense there is no such thing. Commercially avaliable encryption algorithms are a "feel good" item. They will keep a 15 year old Korean "script kiddie" out of your inbox but thats it. If you have better than commerically avaliable encryption you better have a good reason.

Computer equipment and software are the most numerous items on export restriction lists. NSA reads CIA's e-mail, they sure as hell can read yours.

I don't like it but I figure I have been subject to it since I was young and have had no ill effects. The principal of the matter does bother me, but I for one kinda said " well duh...." when the domestic spying story hit the news.

It has been a fact of life for some time, and it has no political prefference. The current admin doesn't realize that it is wrong....so therefore they are more honest about it, but every administration in the electronic age has done this.

Not that it is right, but without massive public outcry it will not change.

 

[Trip20]

Whether or not it's true Trip20, it's time for it to stop. Unless of course, the Constitution is just a G** Da** piece of paper.

I agree, Biker, that the laws need to change.

But this is just another vehicle used to make the current administration look like a big scary evil entity. It's getting tiresome, and I'm definitely not Bush's biggest supporter.

 

[svtruth]

I'll just

S-P-E-L-L anything controversial.

 

[Biker]

I agree, Biker, that the laws need to change.

But this is just another vehicle used to make the current administration look like a big scary evil entity. It's getting tiresome, and I'm definitely not Bush's biggest supporter.

On the contrary Trip20, I think that this admin needs to follow the law.
Biker

 

[Lobotomy Boy]

It has been a fact of life for some time, and it has no political prefference. The current admin doesn't realize that it is wrong....so therefore they are more honest about it, but every administration in the electronic age has done this.

Of course this has been going on a long time, but there is one huge difference. The current administration does realize it's wrong; they just don't care. It's not the spying that has me scared--it's the admission that the administration believes it is exempted from Constitutional restrictions. There's not a lot we can do about covert violations of our civil rights, but this is an overt violation, and it starts us down a slippery slope towards a totalitarian state. By declaring that it has the right to take away our Fourth Amendment rights, the administration is saying that it can take away any of our Constitutionally granted rights, including the right to keep and bear arms. This is not a stretch. The Bush adminstration could offer the same rationale for nullifying the Second Amendment that it offers for nullifying the Fourth Amendment--fighting terrorism and insuring national security. After all, wouldn't we all be a lot safer if there were no guns for the terrorists to use?

But this is just another vehicle used to make the current administration look like a big scary evil entity.

This adminstration has publicly declared that it does not consider itself bound by Constitutional checks on power. I can't imagine anything scarier than that.

 

[buzz_knox]

are you worried your posts here or elsewhere are gonna end up in a file on some fed. agents desk? Just curious.

Probably been mentioned before, but you don't have an expectation of privacy in a public board. They could monitor these boards before 9/11, and can do so now, without any concerns. And "screen names" aren't an effective way of concealing one's identity.

So, after hearing of this story, I'm not changing my posting habits because absolutely nothing related to the posting environment has changed.

 

[antarti]

Everybody from the local CLEO to the usual 3-letter folk, to the State Dept (and even a foreign govt) has my prints, IRS records, etc. Where I work I've signed reams of NDAs and been checked out too. I figure I've been checked out and cleared by all the people who COULD abuse me, so why worry now? What is everybody gonna do, turn around one day and say "He fooled us all!" and try to paint me as some wacko? That would attack their own "due dilligence"...

Nobody attaches digital sigs to their posts... and its not like the 3-letter agencies couldn't post whatever they wanted on your "behalf" anyway if they felt like framing you. It's a non-issue.

Heck, back in the days of nothin' but bulletin boards, a guy I knew managed to get himself a visit from the secret service.

Bogie +1

LOL! You just brought back a flood of memories about the same thing. Back when all those "BIOC Agent" sysops were getting visits...

 

[carlrodd]

PADME, BAIL ORGANA, and SENATORS MON MOTHMA, FANG ZAR, TERR TANEEL, and GIDDEAN DANU sit in Senator Organa 's office.

BAIL ORGANA: Now that he has control of the Jedi Council, the Chancellor has appointed Governors to oversee all star systems in the Republic.

FANG ZAR: When did this happen?

BAIL ORGANA: The decree was posted this morning.

PADME: Do you think he will dismantle the Senate?

MON MOTHMA: Why bother? As a practical matter, the Senate no longer exists.

GIDDEAN DANU: The constitution is in shreds. Amendment after amendment . . . executive directives, sometimes a dozen in one day.

 

[carlrodd]

PALPATINE: I understand your reservations completely, Senator, and I assure you the appointment of Governors will in no way compete with the duties of the Senate.

PADME: May I take it then, that there will be no further amendments to the Constitution?

PALPATINE: I want this terrible conflict to end as much as you do, My Lady, and when it does I guarantee an immediate return to democracy . . .

PADME: You are pursuing a diplomatic solution to the war, then.

PALPATINE: You must trust me to do the right things, Senator. That is why I am here.