General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Snowden has been vindicated and he is a hero [View all]bread_and_roses
(6,335 posts)Maybe you're too young to remember that. In the old days of landlines, phone companies kept records too. However, unless I'm mistaken, a SPECIFIC warrant for a SPECIFIC individual was required for law-enforcement to get those records? Or to tap a phone? An individual, specific warrant issued by a judge who had been presented some sort of evidence that law-enforcement had a reasonable basis to suspect probable illegal activity. Or am I totally off-base?
Same with postal mail. We EXPECTED - reasonably - that our mail was private.
No one thinks they "own" the providers of their internet or cell service, anymore than we used to think we "owned" Ma Bell. (We used to "own" the postal service, and should "own" the telecommunications, but that's another story.)
But we did assume we had a right to privacy in our communications unless there was some compelling reason to permit law-enforcement to intrude on that privacy and it was SPECIFICALLY authorized by a judge.
Cell phone communications or e-mail are not different in essence from land line phone or postal mail communications. The only difference is the method of delivery.
Or maybe I'm dreaming?