General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I am getting the odd sense that some don't like Snowden because he made the establishment look bad [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)But Bush was vacationing when Condoleeza Rice read him the memo warning of planes flying into buildings.
It was not a lack of information that resulted in 9/11. It was a lack of attention by Bush to defending the country.
The huge quantity of metadata that our government is processing will not help find terrorists. It will just confuse those whose job it is to find the terrorists.
I view Snowden as brave and ethical.
He is merely telling us that what is supposed to our REPRESENTATIVE government is not answering to us but is building a scaffold of spying on us that will give it total control over our thoughts and lives.
I do not oppose all government access to pen registers or their right to eavesdrop to solve crimes or true terrorism.
I oppose this massive and indiscriminate collection of pen registers.
This violates not just the Fourth Amendment but chills speech and the exercise of freedom of religion, freedom of association and a number of other rights that the government should not be taking from us.
There is nothing balanced about the government collecting your metadata. It gives the upper hand to the government and makes you nothing.