tehpwnerofn00bs

Seems to me that there's a subtle difference between knowing everyone's phone number and having them indexed for public convenience, and having a record of every single phone call a family makes, to be used exclusively to monitor their activities. This is something that governments like to do in secret, but I guess parliament thinks it can get away with it if they do it publicly.

Apparently, your health care "beta" was too buggy and we've decided to scrap the project altogether. I think his point was though, that the US gov't likes borrowing ideas that the UK gov't implements first - so in that sense the UK has been a testing ground for some US laws.

Oh yeah... whoopsies.

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nitteo

The NSA listens to every phone call in the US, haven't you seen The Bourne Trilogy?

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tehpwnerofn00bs

That's why its fun to randomly say "for allah", "bomb", and "I hate america" - they just scan for keywords. I figure they're already wasting my tax money, I might as well get some use out of it. Besides, if they do ever come a-knockin' on my door, they can't do anything, because the information they obtained was illegal.

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Burn

Having taken numerous US Government classes, I can (hopefully) tell you that such invasions of privacy are wholly unconstitutional and when brought up in court, these activities in the US would be struck down. While the US Constitution does not specifically define "privacy" as we know it, it is given to US citizens as interpreted through the (to name a couple) 3rd, 4th and 5th Amendments. More specifically, the self-incrimination clause of the 5th comes to mind in such an instance.

Additionally, in order to wiretap (because this is what it really comes down to), you need an order from a judge, and only after showing evidence that establishes probable cause.

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dankoni

Wow. Defensive much? It was an analogy, and I said it jokingly. That said, we don't have to control the UK in order to use the UK. And I don't think we control the UK, I think we are both controlled by the same force.

What year was this in? You seem to either be talking about an idealized US, or one that died long ago.

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Burn

.....and you guys have to bring in politics. I speak purely in terms of constitutionality (what is written). Don't talk about who's in power, their party, etc. In judicial terms, party politics aren't taken into account because it's what's on the books.

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trueg50

However it is not fair to compare pre-9/11 to post/911, the circumstances are very different.

Also, what about the Democrats insistence on removing gun rights from many cities and states? Both sides are even in their choices for citizens.

We will not know if the choice they made are fair, sustainable, or correct for another 50 years, so we will just have to see what the precedent is, how it effected society, and make our choice.

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stargate125645

I didn't bring in politics, I brought in the truth. It's not my fault he (and now one other person) had to ignore the thin red line. Regardless what you say, this is about the powers that be because they have systematically eliminated many of our rights the last 8 years! You are kidding yourself if you think otherwise.

Fusion Racing

In a way this is good news... they are trying to find terrorists - now its time to make about 200 gmail accounts all under dictators/terrorists names just to annoy the people checking the emails

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stargate125645

Have fun when they trace them to your residence.