General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Don't entertain this garbage. [View all]Ms. Toad
(34,069 posts)to point out the very real circumstances in which our system of justice has failed, based on data and conclusions drawn from that data which were false. If the system can fail when we put people on death row, or in Gitmo, we should all of a sudden trust it to be perfectly accurate when massive quantities of data are being gathered and crunched to determine patterns (or supposed patterns) of interactions in connection with terrorism?
As for concrete evidence that something bad has happened - well, hmm..., that would kind of require information about what data has been gathered, and how it has been used, facts which have are not available to the public.
If it leads nowhere but to a loss of our freedom to associate with whomever we please without fear of being labeled a terrorist, that loss is too much.
FWIW, My father has an FBI file on him, I likely have one on me - as I have followed pretty closely in his footsteps in the activities which caused the FBI to spy on US citizens, including being on the governing body which was the subject of massive data collection from ~1940 - 1975. Theoetically that organization (32 more links at that site - feel free to browse), which received a Nobel Peace Prize posed such a threat of violence to the US that the FBI invested 30 years infiltrating and spying on it - information we only had access to after the fact as the result of FOIA requests - which cannot be used to produce the currently classified material. So being spied on by the FBI is personal to me.