Re: If this is the straight story on the NSA database, does anyone still have a problem with it?

Quiet, "Justice Guy" <justiceguy2345@xxxxxxxxx> -- I'm transmitting
rage.


James Schrumpf wrote:
Read the article carefully. I am not saying it is the absolute final
truth on the matter; but IF IT IS CORRECT in its assertions, does
anyone still think it's a violation of the Fourth Amendment?

http://tinyurl.com/qh7og

Once I'd heard it was about phone records,
I assumed it would be all about adjacency
analysis and the like. Anonymity in such
cases does not discriminate, for good or
for ill. And that's the point - it might protect
the innocent, but it also might unfairly
implicate an innocent by random association
instead of causal action.

My phone number is just one digit off from
the local Kinko's fax line. Theirs has a 2
where mine has a 5 - a very easy mistake
to make. I get an occasional call to my
house that beeps like it's a fax, and I know
exactly what's going on. What if the feds
track a fax to my number? What then?

All it would take is being on someone's
speel dial wrong. Or having a hand-written
phone list where a 2 looks like a 5. You get
some wrong-number calls from the wrong
people, and you could be on the watch list -
the result of a data "analysis" that could end
up being used as "evidence" for a warrant -
or worse.

Don't tell me it would never happen. What
would stop it? The altruism of people who
think terrorists are around every corner, or
who have to make progress now to look
good to their bosses or to the public and
are willing to rely on this technique to arrest
people? And don't tell me that if I have nothing
to hide, then I shouldn't fear this. That's Nazi
thinking right there, that is.

Lastly, I agree 100% with the statement that
if a Democrat had pulled this, Republicans
would put on their golden haloes and their
Civil Liberties sashes and ask for the
president's head on a pike.



One or two mistaken calls to your phone would just be a bad data point
mathematically. If one doesn't understand the kind of analyses going on,
one shouldn't posit hypotheticals.

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
James Schrumpf http://www.hilltopper.net

We Must Protect this Couch!
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Names have been changed to protect the innocent
    ... "...names have been changed to protect the innocent." ... Origins, references, discussions please. ... I've been wondering lately--is there a name for the literary device of ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: Strange Error
    ... The time provider NtpClient failed to establish a trust relationship between this computer and the <domain name changed to protect the innocent> domain in order to securely synchronize time. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.general)
  • Re: Huang Na Killing
    ... The law must also protect the innocent and sometimes the innocent are being ... times - sometimes your friends heads especially Chinese heads were hung on ...
    (soc.culture.singapore)
  • Help on best way to gather/sort results [Array/Hash]?
    ... def parse_file ... sourceip = "SMTP" ... Removed to protect the innocent.... ... Removed to protect the innocent ...
    (comp.lang.ruby)