Quote:
Originally posted by DeltAlum
Because of this kind of thing, as reported by the Washington Post from a discussion about the Watergate Scandal:
"Electronic surveillance presented a threat to civil liberties. Abuse of "national security" and "executive privilege" to thwart the investigation suggested that those concepts needed more precise definitions...(edit)...The willingness of Nixon and his aides to use the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in unlawful or unethical ways against their “enemies” was a reckless exploitation of the bureacracy."
That's why. It happened before, and when offered the climate and opportunity, I think it can easily happen again.
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This is a very different type of protest. These are not the peaceful, sit-in, put a flower in your gun protesters of the 70's that were so high they could never pose a threat.
The first thing I want to refer to are the violent protests that are taking hold all over the world. Cities are destroyed and police are called out to keep these rioters pretending to be protesters under control. In fact certain organizations hire anarchists specifically for their protests who travel from location to location and only stop once police are able to identify them across a list of very dangerous people. I guess that list shouldn't exist according to you.
The second thing is that as different as a lot of organizations on the left are that protest, they have found something incredibly powerful. That something is to aggregate their protests. In an anti-war rally you will see anti-globalization protesters, you will see environmentalist protestors, and you will see terror defending anti-Israel protesters. When you have the merging of all these causes into one, really is any protest innocent anymore?
While the constitution does defend your right to free speech, it also allows the government to act on certain speech. Why is someone who writes a threat to the president arrested?? It's free speech and he is protesting against the president. So why shouldn't a group be monitored if there is a strong possibility that criminal elements will be present??
You are so worried about this but you have no idea how much you are under monitor. For a long time the NSA has monitored every single phone call out there. Cell phone providers have provided access keys to move around encryption to law enforcement. Your internet provider monitors the websites you go to, your employer monitors your computer usage and so much more. One of the solutions I worked on for a consulting firm was a system to monitor employee loyalty based on emails, interactions with staff, and other factors like pay. I have no idea to what level this system is used now but as soon as the groundwork was developed a ton of big name companies asked us to come in and present it to them as well as the original firm. They wanted to flag anyone that could present a risk whatsoever.
-Rudey