Democrats capitulate to GOP in telecom immunity deal

[Dispatcher]

Originally Posted by Ardentfrost

That's a bullshit reason. They were supposed to champion the liberties lost over the past 8 years. Instead they give in like a drunk prom date.

I agree completely. But more like a passed out drunk slut prom date.

[motivez]

Originally Posted by Darlin

Originally Posted by Darlin

There is a side to this story that defies the paranoid ravings of the so-called "innocent

Once again, like in the Guantanamo thread, you're treating everyone swept up in this illegal spying by the government as if they're already guilty. They're not.

If the government wants to listen in on some phone calls, there exists a legal framework by which they can obtain a warrant from a judge, who'll review the information to ensure it complies with the laws on the book and that if the evidence doesn't exist, our privacy is respected.

The argument that "If you have nothing to hide, what do you have to worry about?" doesn't hold any merit whatsoever..

For example, I have friends in Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, and several other middle eastern countries. I communicate with them on a regular basis through email, irc, skype, and so forth.

The government has no reason to listen in to my conversations with them, and if they think they do, they should be forced to get a judge to review the information that they're using to think they should and approve of it before they're allowed to.

If you don't mind them listening in on your conversations, monitoring your emails, and so forth, feel free to write them a letter giving them permission to do so. But don't think that just because you mind a needless invasion of privacy, everyone else should be forced to deal with it too.