"America is the greatest, freest and most decent society in existence. It is an oasis of goodness in a desert of cynicism and barbarism. This country, once an experiment unique in the world, is now the last best hope for the world." ~ Dinesh D'Souza
I really haven't been able to come up with anything interesting to comment about this morning. I went to The Drudge Report website to see if anything jumps out at me, and I went to Fox News' website, too.
Nothing that other bloggers aren't covering as well, or mostly, better than I would. If I'm going to blog about the most talked about issues in the news, I want to come up with a perspective that no one else has.
I can't see the current crop of news stories from any other perspectives than anyone else. Tug, over at Trucker Philosophy, came up with a different perspective about the big non-scandal over the collecting of phone records. I wish I'd thought of it that way first. He equates the collection of phone records with the intrusiveness of the IRS, in the collection of intimate personal data every April.
I suppose the reason he came up with that is because he pays taxes. I don't.
I did receive this e-mail from Shaun Mullen, which I found so insulting, that I almost sent him a reply suggesting he buy a Communist flag instead:
Good morning.
Verizon, AT&T and BellSouth, the telecom giants that were paid off by the National Security Agency to help it spy on Americans, face billions of dollars in damages from their customers now that the full extent of the program has been revealed.
A federal lawsuit filed in Manhattan against Verizon seeks $50 billion in civil damages on behalf of its customers, who happen to include Yours Truly, and more litigation is sure to come.
I already know what I'm going to buy when Verizon gets around to paying me and its other aggrieved customers: An American flag.
How about you?
I'm guessing that it will be a very long time before he sees any money from that lawsuit. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the Judge doesn't throw it out of court. There is no law being broken here. There is no spying on Americans. It has been established conclusively that no law has been broken.
What really surprises me most is how gleeful the Bush haters are about this non-story. One would think they would want the NSA to know if terrorists are planning another attack on our country. Apparently not.
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9 comments:
Mark, can you post a link to the conclusive evidence that no law has been broken please?
Thanks, Liam.
A 1979 Supreme Court ruling found that the acquisition of basic phone records was not a "search" under the Fourth Amendment and that individuals did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy about such data.
It's a long slog of a read, but it's enlightening. Check out the comments as well... they're equally illuminating.
Smith v Maryland - US Supreme Court Case 1979 - Phone Records belong to phone company, no privacy
Amazing what a Google search will turn up. You'd think the Media Elites would exercise as much diligence. But, no... Who would dare question their professionalism?
eh, hem....
Wow. Once again I am surprised by the protections that American Law doesn’t provide. In the UK we have Data Protection legislation which prevents anyone with data which could identify you from using that data for a purpose other than the one for which it was collected (unless you agree to it in advance.) Since I could be identified from both of my phone numbers, I would have the expectation that my calling data would not be given to the government without a warrant.
Still, maybe that’s something I should double-check given the current climate…
I once opened my mail and discovered that I'd been part of a class action suit (can't remember against whom or about what). Along with the letter was a hefty settlement check for 27 cents. I wonder how many millions the lawyers made from it. I would guess that the vast majority of class action suits filed in this country are filed not because a business did wrong, but because lawyers want a bigger house.
It's OK liam. These folks are mis-reading the law. One's phone records are the property of the phone company and may be used for marketing or other commercial purposes.
However, the phone companies may not share those records with the government unless one of five conditions exist according to the Stored Communications Act:
The Stored Communications Act, Section 2703(c), provides exactly five exceptions that would permit a phone company to disclose to the government the list of calls to or from a subscriber: (i) a warrant; (ii) a court order; (iii) the customer’s consent; (iv) for telemarketing enforcement; or (v) by “administrative subpoena.” The first four clearly don’t apply. As for administrative subpoenas, where a government agency asks for records without court approval, there is a simple answer – the NSA has no administrative subpoena authority, and it is the NSA that reportedly got the phone records.
Therefore, Verizon, AT&T, and BellSouth broke the law by releasing those records to the government.
Why do you think Qwest told the feds to shove it up their a**es?
"One would think they would want the NSA to know if terrorists are planning another attack on our country." (they = Democrats)
Are you kidding me? "They" would love to see another attack....It would be the perfect platform to disprove Bush's ideas.
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Hey Liam, it's a good thing we weren't data mining phone logs before 9/11/01, aye?
Oh I forgot, we were but weren't allowed to act on the data we'd found.....Wouldn't want to trample on the rights of any innocent Americans.
It's much better to take hits instead.
Cheap shot, Pero. The logical conclusion of your argument is that the best way to protect America is to turn it into a Police State. Insofar as doing so would certainly reduce terrorist attacks, you are right – but would it still be America? I don’t think so.
And don’t forget that all of this wiretapping and phone-record research only combats the symptoms of terrorism, not the cause. Until the USA can improve its reputation in the rest of the world, the terrorists are going to keep on coming, no matter how many rights get trampled.
Jim, at first sight you would appear to be correct as that Act supersedes the SCOTUS decision. However the Wikipedia article on the subject also refers to 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(a)(ii) which, in cases relating to National Security, allows the Attorney General to negate the need for a warrant or court order to collect such information.
Well, it's nice to see everyone actually doing research, rather than blowing a lot of hot air. Wikipedia is far from perfect, but I like seeing folks actually looking for answers.
I would not say, however, that the Stored Communications Act "supercedes" the SCOTUS ruling, but rather builds upon/places conditions upon the SCOTUS ruling. The ruling in Smith v Maryland is not negated by the Stored Communications Act.
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