"NONE of this would have happened without the revelations by Edward J. Snowden"

[JDPriestly]

92. Here is how it is different.

This is the key to your misunderstanding:

"And if they don't have it, then they need to go to every telecom in the country to find that information."

If they are not just sweeping up random metadata on everyone, they actually have to go to the telecoms and ask for specific information on specific individuals. In so doing, they create a record of their investigation. If you were a defendant, and especially if you were falsely accused, you would want to have that record because it might be important evidence in figuring out why you are being falsely accused.

Our law and especially our Constitution exists, in part, to protect defendants from the sloppiness and excessive zeal of prosecutors and government. Safeguards such as the rights to counsel and to remain silent (bar against requiring a defendant to testify against himself) and to a public trial among others were included precisely to correct excesses of governments prior to the Constitution.

Remember. Our Bill of Rights went into effect in 1791.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights

Remember. Our Constitution and the Bill of Rights went into effect BEFORE the end of the inquisition. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights insured that excesses such as the Inquisition and other terrible practices of European governments and religions would never happen here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquisition

And now we have the NSA taking shortcuts to avoid the very precautionary measures the Constitution provides. The Bill of Rights is intended to slow down our government. There is always an excuse for burning witches and other undesirables. The Constitution is the brake on our government. And we need it now more than ever.

Another problem with the NSA surveillance is that it gives undue power via the incredible amount of personal and political information provided by the metadata to the executive branch. The NSA surveillance data is not freely available to the other branches of government, and it has the potential to give an unfair political advantage to the incumbent president or party during an election.

Further, the NSA surveillance makes it possible for the executive to cherrypick the communications data on members of Congress or the Courts. Ideal if an unscrupulous executive wishes to blackmail or threaten members of Congress or the Courts.


The NSA programs are unacceptable for a zillion reasons. There is just no defending them.