Who Needs the 4th Amendment…

Leahy’s rewritten bill would allow more than 22 agencies — including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Communications Commission — to access Americans’ e-mail, Google Docs files, Facebook wall posts, and Twitter direct messages without a search warrant. It also would give the FBI and Homeland Security more authority, in some circumstances, to gain full access to Internet accounts without notifying either the owner or a judge. (CNET obtained the revised draft from a source involved in the negotiations with Leahy.)

Unpossible I say, a politician rewriting a bill to be counter to the interests of Americans after debuting it as being to their benefit?  It’s like they know the public doesn’t want this but it’s the only way they can pull it off.

Who needs the 4th amendment, am I right?  They’re not even trying to be overt about this anymore.  Can someone please explain to me why the government needs this kind of power.  How is it that the act of informing a judge and getting a warrant to express probable cause for the invasion of privacy is necessary is a hindrance?

Oh, that’s right, it’s a hindrance to finding undesirables to be weeded out of the population. While anyone with half a brain should know not to expect those things to be private, which is why I’m not a big fan of the cloud, it seems a far stretch the government cannot first obtain a warrant.

Contact your legislator now and start raising hell.  Just to illustrate the double standard of this, I’m reasonably sure it’s safe elected officials will be exempt and still require a warrant. Laws for thee not for me.  If these elected representatives want this, they need to make their services public for all to see… They’ve got nothing to hide right?  At least that’s what they keep telling us.

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About TMM

TMM is the owner, editor, and principal author at The Minuteman, a competitive shooter, and staff member for Boomershoot. Even in his free time he’s merging his love and knowledge of computers and technology with his love of firearms. Many know his private name and information however due to the current political climate, many are distancing themselves due to the abandonment of Due Process.

4 Responses to Who Needs the 4th Amendment…

  1. Old NFO says:

    As if they aren’t already doing this… Just gives them ‘legal’ cover…

  2. unclezip says:

    In the dotcom case, the government argues that files stored in the “cloud” are not private property. Use cloud services at your own risk.

    • Barron says:

      The problem is where do you draw the line for the cloud? Is it at your private ISP? Is it at a paid hosting provider? Or is it merely free services such as Google?

      I find it interesting that the application of Email, which is analogous to traditional mail cannot be claimed as private merely because it is retained within the cloud… So in other words the only way you can secure your communications from unwarranted search and seizure is to self host and maintain it all yourself. Never mind the impracticality of doing such a thing for most people. Also any interim server which holds the message must retain a copy of it. If they can’t go get it from your server they can get it from another one.

      The problem is our leaders are twisting things so the law “doesn’t apply” when in fact it’s actually pretty damn clear what constitutes private communications that someone would reasonably expect to remain private.

      Further, as for the private property argument, is it not my private property still when I pay a storage facility to store it?