US surveillance powers expire as Senate deal fails -BBC News

submitted by Aard Vark

(oritteropo)
9 years 4 weeks ago

Politics

Did not the supreme court recently declare this program was unconstitutional anyway? I can't understand how they could possibly extend a program that's unconstitutional. That doesn't make sense.

Of course, they try to not admit that this program has been useless. They have ignored that it's not stopped any of the terrorist acts on our soil or elsewhere, not even contributing in a meaningful way towards stopping any. NOT ONCE. It's astonishing that all but one senator is claiming the opposite, when their own independent investigations proved it repeatedly. It's also astonishing that they have completely ignored the findings of the supreme court that declared it unconstitutional. I guess the whole 'swear to uphold the constitution' part of their oath comes with an unspoken caveat 'unless I don't want to, it's inconvenient, or I get paid not to'.

I'm not normally a fan of Paul, but I think he got this one right. I hope the spin machine (now on overdrive from both parties. Impressive, he actually brought the two parties together!) doesn't convince people that he's the one that's got it wrong (him, along with the supreme court) and all the other senators are really working to try to keep us safe and free, all evidence to the contrary not withstanding.

EDIT: Also, the USA Freedom act, the proposed replacement, still has all the data kept, just kept by the private companies involved. Personally, I don't trust private companies to keep my information private. Not only is there the likelihood they'll be hacked, there's also the likelihood they'll SELL that information eventually, no matter what their 'privacy policy' or 'terms of service' say. Often, when companies are dissolved, that customer information is sold as an asset, even when the company is contractually bound to keep it private and NOT sell it. Once the company is dissolved, there's no one to sue over them not keeping their obligation. This happens all the time now. I certainly don't want my calls, to who and when I made them, all purchases, and my location to be sold to the highest bidder(s), I don't know about you.