5 ms·
hmm idk a part of me doesn't believe the program went away just rebranded and renamed itself esp. with things like Executive Order 13587 & the recent NSS but th
by chefkd 2y ago
hmm idk a part of me doesn't believe the program went away just rebranded and renamed itself esp. with things like Executive Order 13587 & the recent NSS but that could be because I come from a place that has shown me the worst of humanity maybe with enough time in the free world I'll learn to be Mr. Optimist :)
but the morality/legality of something like that is cool to think about as a thought exercise :- if they're doing anything beyond their legal parameters or beyond their remit, they wouldn't broadcast it or expose themselves by using it to arrest someone even in a hypothetical scenario where the data points to a person being kidnapped from an apartment, driven across state lines, and murdered which in my head seems worse than the collection but idk the laws feel not mallable enough for the age we live in
- tootie 2y agoSure, you can assume they're doing some things off the books, bending rules, abusing authority. Surely it happens everywhere. But they couldn't easily hide a massive program or fund it without a trace for very long. If you want to take heart about something, the worst mass surveillance program was uncovered by the NY Times. They published it and suffered no consequences. The same guy who exposed that program, exposed the US involvement in sabotaging the Iranian nuclear program. They dragged him to court a few times, but he walked away without any charge sticking. So, for one, it's really, really hard to keep something like secret for very long and our press is still free enough to do something about it. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/politics/bush-lets-us-spy-on-callers-without-courts.html https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/politics/bush-lets-us-spy...
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]