List Of Americans Who Have Been Individually Spied On Will Soon Be Released "biggest disclosure yet"

[Leopolds Ghost]

108. There are two points at issue here, it seems:

1. Everyone is being surveilled upon, they just aren't targeting those of us who aren't on somepony's shit list.

2. What is the nature of this list of names, it will be put online for people to look up their own name. If they are not an enemy of the state, then presumably they will demand to know why they're on it, like the aforementioned little old ladies who run afoul of DHS or whom ever under the Patriot Act. That is what I assume he is waiting for, to ask the gov. to strike specific names off the list. He probably sent a copy of the list to the gov. for vetting.

This leads to two sub-issues:

(a). How do we use the list to determine if warrantless surveillance has taken place or if it was all done under a blanket warrant then on what basis? In other words, if all our info is being collected, are you (stevenleser) arguing a right to privacy on the basis of the fact that you have done nothing presumptively wrong but that others may not be afforded the same right on the basis of suspicion of association with persons tarred as anti-American under the Patriot Act, or is it the opposite -- that we all have the right to be surveilled upon and only those with "something to hide" have anything to complain about? Similar to the HOA mentality of other recent legislation enacted by conservatives in both parties... that we all have the right to be treated the same way as people with money, but people with money are more equal than others since they already have health insurance and a job and a good credit rating, etc.

(b). Arguments over the merits of blanket surveillance:

i. national security interests (Americans threatening national security interests here or overseas) (does this include economic interests?)

ii. metadata has been declared fair game by the SCOTUS on the grounds that it is not like library or health records, but instead is like license plate information or stuff you write on the envelope of your mail or anything else that can be looked up publically -- despite the fact that police need a warrant to pull your phone calls, and that metadata is half the information about you, since it is far more extensive than a background check -- it includes your entire call and internet history, who you know, who you've met, and who you've been in close proximity with, using cell phone location (which are also considered public information on the same grounds since you can't make a call without advertising your location at all times) and potentially webcam data

iii. the other two programs Gellman told us about were for long-term storage of actual call records to be sifted through once there was a FISA warrant (but anyone with the right access could get in). per Drake's revelations, there was a data center at Ft. Meade that could handle a few petabytes -- enough for 2 days of all US phone and e-mail, not clear if that is metadata only -- but the new center in Utah can apparently hold the calls and e-mails themselves, and of course anything else is archived on the Internet using webcrawlers and bots, since everything non-governmental is put online on web-facing servers these days -- what with the push towards cloud computing.

iv. is there an inherent protection of privacy guaranteed by the 4th amendment or rights otherwise not enumerated in the Constitution, like right to travel? I would think the 9th is the relevant amendment here since any inherent right to privacy extends the 4th, just as the right to reproductive rights has been construed as extending from other basic rights.