Wow.  All this just in the name of Security and Stabilitiy.

My mom’s already upset with AT&T delivering Phone Records to the NSA(She switched to another phone company because of that).  She’ll be even more upset if this happens.  Makes me more embarrased to be an American.

investigations into terrorism and pornography

Uh, why pornography?  Perhaps this article was unclear and meant “child pornography” or something illegal, but last I checked regular run of the mill pr0n was perfectly within the realm of the law.  Great, first they create an “anti-obscenity squad” investigate legal pornography marketed to consenting adults.  Now they’re keeping tabs on people who view it over the internet.  Heh, they’ll have the IP addresses of 90% of internet users.

  Hmmm…one of the reasons given for diverting money and FBI officers from doing real work, like….fighting terror…to instead viewing porn material was “that adult pornography is a threat to families and children.“  Fascisms + fundamentalism = :(

Whew. The world powers are just getting too much technological and political power. Next thing you know, one guy will get elected to yield that power world-wide (you know, to keep the peace and such). Radicals who won’t comply will be silenced. Where have a read this scenario before?

Whew. The world powers are just getting too much technological and political power. Next thing you know, one guy will get elected to yield that power world-wide (you know, to keep the peace and such). Radicals who won’t comply will be silenced. Where have a read this scenario before?

Quick!  Everyone get out your Left Behind PC games and head on over to Rapture Ready!!!!11!

L4T: Where have a read this scenario before?

Pat Robertson’s The New World Order?

Where have a read this scenario before?

Star Wars episodes I, II and III

Maybe there’s a genetic link between pornographers and terrorists.  They do exist on the same planet after all.  Or perhaps the FBI is still in shock over having been led by a cross dressing weirdo for so many years.  No wait!!  I know!

According to Jerry Falwell, God caused 9/11 in order to punish us for allowing gay abortionists to consume oxygen.

Ok.  Ok.  It’s the Amish who secretly control everything from they’re underground alien base in Pennsylvania.

Well now, why is it this scares a fraction of the population - the evil, the terrorist, the criminal, the child molestor, the bald?

According to polls most Americans have no problem with this, so why do you?

And for that commentor about Jerry Falwell - Falwell is an idiot just getting older and loosing his mind. I’m surprised you even watch him!

Dog: According to polls most Americans have no problem with this, so why do you?

Would you care to present us with such a poll? This is not a matter of “only the guilty have something to fear” for me; it is a matter of our privacy being violated with nebulous rationale. You better believe that I’ve got a problem with that. Feel free to label me what you will for harboring this attitude.

If I weren’t a Christian I’d be a molotov-hurling anarchist with all this crap happening.

Sadie, I am with you there.  I’d like to see one terrorist that has been busted using internet browsing logs…oh wait, that’s classified and if we knew that, we might be helping the terrorists…My bad.

As far as the porn goes, I would guess it was not supposed to be child porn but all porn.  We’re headed straight for theocracy, and nobody should be suprised that pornography (and eventually anything that goes against what “good upstanding citizens” do) will be closely scrutinized and severely punished.  I wish I could afford to move to some place where there isn’t so much religious fervor.

most Americans have no problem with this

Just because an opinion is the popular one, does NOT mean it is the correct one. I know this is a bit of a cliche, but forgive me for one minute and let me use it. Opinion polls throughout Germany have shown that a majority of Germans thought Adolf Hitler was an effective leader. Prior to 1980, almost 90% of Americans would have supported a ban on interracial marriage. To date, a majority of Americans still believe that the United States discovered large stockpiles of WMD’s in Iraq. All of them are wrong. This is an issue of personal privacy. No one is arguing that the government WILL use this information against citizens who’ve done nothing wrong, but who is to say that they won’t? No one ever thought that in the United States you could be black-balled for believing in Communism, and yet, it happed less that 60 years ago. Granted, there are some that would argue that such a thing couldn’t happen in today’s society, well, that’s bullshit. The act itself is based off of two age-old concepts that will never die and will always force men and women to take extreme measures, fear and paranoia.

Well said, Neodromos.

Most Americans are lemmings.

They’ll follow an idiot right over a cliff.

Change scares the hell out of them.

I am not willing to jump on the paranoia band wagon. 
I have no problem with this request if the data is staying in the hands of the Internet provider for instance.  The JD would have to supeona the requested records as part of the prosecution of a specific case.  Exactly how will this negatively impact the lives of your average american?  Are you simply assuming that everyone in the various federal and state justice depratements is corrupt and “out to get me”?

I have no problem with this request if the data is staying in the hands of the Internet provider for instance.

The JD would have to supeona the requested records as part of the prosecution of a specific case.  Exactly how will this negatively impact the lives of your average american?

One, the data won’t stay in the hands of the ISP much the same way phone records didn’t stay in the hands of AT&T. Secondly, there was no need for a supeona as the companies themselves gladly sold the information their customers thought were private. Thirdly, this negatively affects the lives of ordinary Americans in that it is merely the first bit of ground that the government is willing to take. Simply put, never give an inch for it turns quickly into a mile.

Big complaints now, but if your daughter became a victom of an Internet Predator, you would be standing in the streets, shouting for more monitoring.  It’s easy to take the position that this is an egregious offence against your privacy rights.  Privacy is fine, but not when it is used as a tool to violate other peoples rights.

The issue of online predators is moot. That’s simply parental supervision and responsibility. A request for monitoring web traffic for your children’s responsibility is a bandaide on a sucking chest wound. It might cover up a little bit of blood but it does nothing for a crushed lung. This is an issue that tends to really upset me. Personally, I’m sick of parents asking the damn government to do their job for them. Example, the “V” chip, and other bits of equally useless technology that’s designed to free parents from responsibility. Or better yet, its really just an issue of plausible deniability.

What Neodromos said.

The answer is more parental involvement and not the outsourcing of parental responsibility to the state.

The issue of online predators is moot. That’s simply parental supervision and responsibility.

I can not accept this response.  It appears to say - ‘I’m sorry your child was abused, but it’s your fault for not monitoring.  We will not attempt to find out to find out who did it, as this will invade his right to privacy.‘

A government should not routinely invade the private life.  However there must be a line where the guilty give up the right to privacy.  This must be done under proper legal supervision- the law enforcement must make a case to the judicary.  We already accept this with search warrents.

I can not accept this response.

Too bad.

It appears to say - ‘I’m sorry your child was abused, but it’s your fault for not monitoring.

That’s exactly what it says. You appear to say that if you can’t be bothered to educate your kids about the dangers they are exposed to and don’t monitor what they are up to, somebody else is to blame when they come to harm as a result of your own parental disinvestment.

I agree with Elwed and Neodromos on this one. As a woman who is childless-by-choice, I should not have to bear any responsibility for other people’s children. Raise your own kids.

Let me be clear on this. I have no problem with with a search of private records where probable cause exists. What I DO find disturbing, however, is an unauthorized search of materials in which one has a reasonable expectation of privacy. Let me be frank. I work as a military police officer in the United States Navy. Technically, my official designation is Master-at-Arms/Seaman. I have worked a number of cases where we have sought command authorization for searches and seizures, but we are honorable men and women. We honor the constitutional rights granted us as citizens of the United States. I would never conduct an illegal search nor would I recommend another Law Enforcement Official to do so. We exist to protect and serve those under our charge, not to blindly take orders from our Commander-in-Chief which any reasonable and prudent person would believe to be illegal. As for the parenting issue, the expected date of delivery of my first child is the 5th of December so I do worry about the dangers associated with a lack of monitoring. That, however, is where I step in as a parent. A parent is not simply a teacher and mentor to their child, but their guardian. A parent is meant to be the sea wall between their child and the flood of all that is wrong with the world, including those who would seek to use and abuse a child for sexual gratification. Our government and our justice system serves to punish those who step outside the bounds of what is permissible and if possible, prevent these behaviors, but there is a fine line between what the government has the ability to do, and what is SHOULD do. This is an issue that dances along that line. Yes, I agree that government has a responsibility to serve the people by instituting a system of justice and preventing crime if possible. I, however, do not agree that government should take on the role as parent to our children.

This is an issue that dances along that line. Yes, I agree that government has a responsibility to serve the people by instituting a system of justice and preventing crime if possible. I, however, do not agree that government should take on the role as parent to our children.

Very nicely put, Neodromos, and I’m grateful our military has people like you serving us.  And congratulations on your coming kid- all the best.  Being a parent changes your world in ways you cannot imagine.

This is TOTALLY off-topic, but I found this link and it made me ecstatic.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/06/03/prison.religion.ap/index.html

Check it, ese.