Somebody needs to invent a "reverse" police scanner that tells you when your communications are being monitored by DARPA, DOPA, DIA, et. al. Maybe these devices exist - but wait - I'm sure they're illegal to possess. OK, so now we need some sort of "NORML" organization to make possession of a joint AND a scanner legal. I think we blew way past tragedy on our way to farce on this one.
I agree that Paul is definitely not a total idiot on our loss of a right to privacy. I think the most frightening thing is that when I ask my kids about the right to privacy in a home, they just assume that since there is no/little right to privacy at school, on the internet (which I have drilled into their heads), then there is probably no practical right to privacy in one's house (maybe because they see our neighbor's PC networks?!). Another parental failure on my part. Anyone have similar experiences speaking to young people these days about the right to privacy? Between classroom "lock downs" and zero-tolerance of so many school infractions, they've had a lot of experience living in a police state.
Jason
On Mon, Dec 31, 2012 at 10:37 AM, Jordan Hayes <jmhayes at j-o-r-d-a-n.com> wrote:
> News flash: Rand Paul isn't a *total* idiot ...
>
> Also: NSA not as powereful as imagined ...
>
> ---
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/29/us/politics/senate-votes-to-extend-electronic-surveillance-authority-under-fisa.html
>
> Federal Power to Intercept Messages Is Extended
> By ROBERT PEAR
> Published: December 28, 2012
>
> WASHINGTON - Congress gave final approval on Friday to a bill extending the
> government's power to intercept electronic communications of spy and
> terrorism suspects, after the Senate voted down proposals from several
> Democrats and Republicans to increase protections of civil liberties and
> privacy.
>
> The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 73 to 23, clearing it for approval
> by President Obama, who strongly supports it. Intelligence agencies said the
> bill was their highest legislative priority.
> Critics of the bill, including Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon, a Democrat, and
> Rand Paul of Kentucky, a Republican, expressed concern that electronic
> surveillance, though directed at noncitizens, inevitably swept up
> communications of Americans as well.
>
> "The Fourth Amendment was written in a different time and a different age,
> but its necessity and its truth are timeless," Mr. Paul said, referring to
> the constitutional ban on unreasonable searches and seizures. "Over the past
> few decades, our right to privacy has been eroded. We have become lazy and
> haphazard in our vigilance. Digital records seem to get less protection than
> paper records."
>
> The bill, which extends the government's surveillance authority for five
> years, was approved in the House by a vote of 301 to 118 in September. Mr.
> Obama is expected to sign the bill in the next few days.
>
> Congressional critics of the bill said that they suspected that intelligence
> agencies were picking up the communications of many Americans, but that they
> could not be sure because the agencies would not provide even rough
> estimates of how many people inside the United States had had communications
> collected under authority of the surveillance law, known as the Foreign
> Intelligence Surveillance Act.
>
> The inspector general of the National Security Agency told Congress that
> preparing such an estimate was beyond the capacity of his office.
>
> [...]
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