National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell is drawing up plans for cyberspace spying that would make the current debate on warrantless wiretaps look like a "walk in the park," according to an interview published in the New Yorker's print edition today.
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Democrats, empowered by their victories last November and in response by a nation-wide desire to hold the presidency accountable vote to expand warrantless wiretapping.
Wait, what?
Here's Jack Balkin's analysis of Judge Taylor's ruling in the NSA warrantless wiretapping lawsuit. He likes the outcome, doesn't like the rationale and isn't sure it will survive an appeal.
Ever since the arrest of a bunch of suspects in the UK and elsewhere in a plot to bomb several airplanes, the White House and their apologists have been united in their talking points: A) that this proves the need for warrantless surveillance and B) that those who oppose warrantless surveillance
Conservative commentator Steve Forman is outraged! What stirred him up enough to write:
So big brother's gonna find out I can't get my tiny penis up? No big deal. Considering people around the world seem eager to help me, I would imagine everyone already knows.
It's naive to think that big brother isn't already reading and listening to everything you do electronically, even if "big brother" is only a computer that notifies the real big brother if it finds something interesting in your email or your telephone conversation.
It might be naive, but at least it's still illegal. Big Mike wants to change that inconvenient fact - though probably, like waterboarding, only if it's not done to him.
The CIA wants access to UK identity files, too. The shame is we're so used to our government flushing our civil liberties away in the name of the war on terror, this news has been met with complete indifference when we should be marching on Downing Street with pitchforks and flaming brands.
Totalitarian governments love to build dossiers about everybody and spy on people so that they can crush anybody's who's a treat to their power.
I'm not saying that the US government is totalitarian, but it certainly wouldn't be a step in the direction of increased democracy and liberty...