F.U. right wingers. NSA eavesdropping program ruled unconstitutional

[Drake Tungsten]

Except Folley was using a government computer. Every employer has the right to access information on their own computer system.

Foley doesn't work for the government. He is the government.

I just don't want people going after e-mails I send on my own computer system or after phone calls which are protected by duly passed laws.

Good luck keeping your emails private; they seem to be fair game in this day and age. I don't like it either, but incidents like this Foley thing make it pretty clear that you have no expectation of privacy with electronic communications.

As for phone calls, you should be fine if you're not calling any foreign citizens connected with terrorism. The NSA and government in general seems to be more careful about your privacy than the media is...

[Dinner]

Politicians still get their paycheck from the government so he was officially using his employer's computer system. If I surf porn at work then my employer has the right to know what I'm doing on the company's network. Every employer owns their network.

[Drake Tungsten]

Politicians still get their paycheck from the government so he was officially using his employer's computer system.

[DaShi]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten

Except Folley was using a government computer. Every employer has the right to access information on their own computer system.

Foley doesn't work for the government. He is the government.

What happened to a government by the people for the people?

If anything, all congressmen emails should be made public.

[Drake Tungsten]

What happened to a government by the people for the people?

Congressmen work at the behest of the people who vote for them, but that doesn't make the people the employer and the congressman the employee in any real sense. It's kind of like the relationship between a CEO and the stockholders he represents. The CEO is the de facto employer in his company, despite the fact that his job security ultimately depends on the goodwill and support of a certain percentage of stock holders.

If anything, all congressmen emails should be made public.

That's a terrible idea. Why remove a convenient means of backchannel communication in a field that depends greatly on negotiation and compromise?

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
The NSA program didn't have any access to the actual conversations. It used the information about who called who, which belongs to the telecom corporations.

edit: I'm speaking about the second NSA program that came out, in case that isn't clear.

Which isn't under consideration in this case.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Politicians still get their paycheck

Give it up, Oerdin. Foley is exempt from government snooping pending a warrant. He does not work for the government, the government worked for him. Drake has you on this. Foley got busted by the people he sent stuff too, not anyone else.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by DaShi
If anything, all congressmen emails should be made public.

noe

[DaShi]

yese

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


noe

Agreed. Not only for reasons Drake cited but also the Congressman are supposed to be the voice of their constituency. With that comes a level of trust akin to Lawyer's client/attorney and Doctor's Patient/physician relationships. If I or any other constituent were to email my congressman I would want assurances that my correspondance was confidential unless I gave my OK to release that correspondance to a broader audience.

[DaShi]

I concede that those are good points. However, I don't think that a congressman abusing that priviledge should be protected by it.