"In a democracy, the law should never be secret." [View all]

[whttevrr]

This quote: "In a democracy, the law should never be secret."
is from this article: http://www.aclu.org/blog/free-speech-national-security/edward-snowden-whistleblower

How come this is not said more?

I had several conversations with some co workers that just floored me recently. One said: "Why haven't they killed that guy yet?" I was flabbergasted. This person was angry. He wanted Snowden dead... And another said... "The 4th Amendment was written in a different time. Things have changed. With all this digital stuff we need to change it."

I won't even get into the one who said: "The 4th? Which one is that?"

Of these three people one is furious and wants to either drone Snowden or send Seal Team 6 out for him. Another is thinking we need to change our 4th Amendment to accommodate the times. And the third is pretty much oblivious and unconcerned.

I myself never suspected there was anything unknown about my activities online. Maybe average joes/janes would be stymied by a username other than my actual name. But everything I do on the internet I have always suspected could be referenced in some database. The whole nature of it is about identification. I have to identify myself to the cable company to get an IP Address that identifies my traffic on the Internet. In order for information to travel from one point to another each point must be uniquely identified. Why? Because how else will the information get from one point to another without getting mixed up with all the other information that it travels with. I was just kind of hoping that no one was actually storing that information from all its disparate locations and indexing it in a searchable database.

I'm not doing anything wrong. But it's creepy. And, some of the things I look for could be suspect. I saw a Breaking Bad episode where the guy made exploding rock candy. I looked it up. Briefly. I did not want to leave tracks. I stymied my curiosity out of fear.

In grade school my teachers taught me how people died to give us a Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and Freedom. Then in High School they made me read The Scarlet Letter, The Crucible, and 1984. WTF!? Sadists. I was hoping for maybe a more Brave New World'ish kind of dystopia. I mean, at least there would be Soma and sex. Instead what we are seeing is the increasingly real possibility that we are heading towards 1984.

That sucks. I don't want a rat in a cage on my head.

I think 'probable cause' should be sacrosanct. I don't think the government should be able to just look at anyone's activity in a blanket sweep and then decide if there is probable cause to look further. And I certainly do not want some private contractor to be handling such things. I just wish more people were informed.

And, I too think that "In a democracy, the law should never be secret."

Should there be "Secret Laws" in a Democracy?