This whole brouhaha about information gathering is nothing but libertarian or conspiracist fantasies acting as useful idiots for Republican operatives trying to manufacture some shit on Obama - swift boat captains redux if you will. As I sad before, I am not a big supporter of Obama, but I find this kind of tactics quite repulsive. ---------
I find this offensive. There is a body of law in place that says privacy matters. There is a growing militarization of the state that is basically granting it the right to do whatever it pleases, whenever it pleases, to whomever it pleases.
The wide and arbitrary sweep of information is part of that militarization.
This is not libertarian and conspiracist fantasizing, this is reality.
And some people are fighting back, which takes a lot of guts.
Joanna