A truly FRIGHTENING post on DU today...."10 things to know about Snowden".

[JDPriestly]

147. The subpoenas are overbroad.

They collect to much information. That's the problem. They can get the pen register for specific suspects and to aid in specific investigations, but these broad, sweeping subpoenas will chill speech.

People will be careful about who they e-mail or call or associate with. That may be a violation of the Constitution. People who don't understand why this is incompatible with our Constitution just don't understand constitutional issues.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilling_effect_%28law%29

Obama could stop this program now. But he probably could not have stopped it before it was exposed by Snowden.

I don't blame Obama for this. I think that the National Security apparatus has a life of its own. No president can control it. It is way out of control. I suspect that we don't know the half of what goes on. But I also suspect that Obama is at a loss as to what to do about the whole out-of-control security organization. The situation seems to be taking care of itself what with this revelation from a disgruntled private contractor's employee.

When I think about why I do not like excessive power in the intelligence sector, I think of the mess in Iran and wonder whether we would have so many problems in Iran had Kermit Roosevelt just allowed the country to develop its own democracy and make its own good and bad decisions. We meddled too much, and we are still paying for it.

So, I think it is actually good that this scandal has come to light, and I think that Obama will know how to handle it. Obama should let it be known that this is not a problem that he created. He inherited it. He needs to reduce it to a reasonable program that is based on probable cause and that doesn't just grab far too much information.

Why do I think that this program may be deemed unconstitutional? Because it is obvious that the government is not only collecting information on who we call and who we e-mail (and who calls and e-mails us) but is also doing it on journalists, politicians and probably Supreme Court justices who travel overseas.

What is more, the US government is probably collecting information on businesses. That could really backfire on them. Although I suspect that businesses encrypt some of their most sensitive information, they don't encrypt all of it, and they don't hide the length and destinations of their e-mails. I don't have a reason to think that. I just figure that is what I would do if I had enough money to do it and wanted to protect my trade secrets.

What is more, I read in the Austrian newspaper, Der Standard, today that the European Union has been trying to negotiate for their citizens the right to sue in the US for violations of their privacy and to compel U.S. corporations to comply with European law on privacy when doing business in Europe. Angela Merkel plans to discuss this with Obama when he visits and she sees him. I think there will be a lot of pressure on the US to modify this program.