Are Napolitano's Mass Spying Powers a Greater Threat to Civil Liberties Than Under Bush?

[Karmadillo]

http://www.truth-out.org/are-napolitanos-mass-spying-powers-a-greater-threat-civil-liberties-than-under-bush60664

Are Napolitano's Mass Spying Powers a Greater Threat to Civil Liberties Than Under Bush?
Monday 21 June 2010
Elliot D. Cohen

According to a June 18 AP article, Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano has defended monitoring Internet communications as a “civil liberties trade-off the US must make to beef up national security.” In addition, she said “it is wrong to believe that if security is embraced, liberty is sacrificed.” Unfortunately, it is incomprehensible how “beefing up” national security can be both a civil liberties trade-off and not a sacrifice of liberty. This contradiction betrays the sad reality that the Obama administration has followed the lead of the Bush administration in escalating the abridgment of civil liberties in the US to protect “national security.”

According to Napolitano, there have been an increasing number of homegrown terrorists who have used the Internet to “reached out” to Islamic extremists for training and inspiration; and the AP article points to the recent Times Square bomber, Faisal Shahzad, and accused Fort Hood Texas shooter Major Nadal Hasan as possible examples.

It is not clear, however, how a relatively few instances of homegrown terrorists who may have been influenced by their online activities to become radicalized can warrant government abridgment of the privacy of millions of Americans. However, it is not hard to see how easily such a principle could be expanded to include any private activities that may possibly be linked to radicalization. Thus, the communications that may occur inside a Mosque may be deemed grist for the mill of government monitoring. And the same logic could well be applied to private communications in the homes of Americans because there may possibly be plans afoot by a few homegrown, would-be terrorists.

It should be emphasized that the Internet monitoring that Napolitano is defending is mass warrantless surveillance of millions of Americans. This is significantly different from the FBI’s obtaining a warrant to spy on the conversations of specific individuals where probable cause exists to suggest that they are planning a terrorist attack.

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[MadHound]

1. There is a bipartisan effort to strip us all of our civil liberties and our privacy

911 provided the perfect excuse and cover. I was predicting back in '03 that the Democrats wouldn't give up these shiny new toys once they got into power, they wanted to play with them instead.

Until we the people put our foot down, our civil liberties are going to continue to disappear.

[Swamp Rat]

2. yep. eom

[Karmadillo]

3. Kick

nt

[G_j]

4. "civil liberties trade-off"

gotta love it....
:scared: