[Anti-Bubba182]

This could be a good thing if used properly.

[unkus]

Law abiding gun owners could be targeted.

[proxy_user]

It can't possibly work.

If you are looking for terrorists, why not just have agents hang around radical mosques and Islamic bookstores?

[af_vet_rr]

I posted this in the other thread:

For a moment, let's pretend that the government is trying to secure our borders, and that somehow the bad guys still got through (their justification for this). For the people who love the government and anything that increases the size and scope of the government, and who would be cheerleaders for these types of things, stop and ask yourselves these three questions:

1)Do you feel comfortable with a liberal White House having access to these types of tools.

2)Do you feel comfortable with the federal government knowing what you buy, when you buy, where you buy, i.e. things such as subscriptions to hunting magazines, self defense courses, ammunition, books and magazines that would clearly label you as a very independent person (i.e. Conservative), information your travel (easy to guess if you're driving somewhere and buy gas and food every so often), etc. A gun grabber wouldn't have to try and get the records of who belongs to the NRA, they'll easily know by the transactions you make.

3)Being that many of you are veterans, and you've probably gotten the letters from the VA about them losing laptops with potentially your data, not to mention all of the stories we hear (God only knows what we don't hear) of government employees losing laptops with all kinds of data, do you feel comfortable about the government having even more information about your life, with the potential to lose even more information about you?

Now we all know that there are companies that have gathered all kinds of information about us already - they sell this information to marketers, store chains, etc., who use the information to target their advertising to us. They know what we subscribe to. They know how much we spend on gas, what stores we shop at, etc., and chances are the government does have some access to this information (they do have to pay for it though). This would go way beyond that.

Things like this lay out the groundwork for all kinds of government abuse. It basically allows the government to build a profile on everybody (they already have them, but not to this extent). This information can and will be shared with all kinds of groups, from your local city and county government and law enforcement to who knows what.

A city like Chicago would love to be able to have this information - if you subscribe to Handgun magazine, you're gonna set off some flags living in a city like Chicago. The list goes on.

[frankjr]

Does it, um, I mean a friend of mine was wondering if it can find porn on a hard drive?

[af_vet_rr]

FYI, threads like these where a lot more Conservatives should be concerned - they'll generate about 0.0001% of the posts that threads about washed-up dead celebrities or what some scientologist nutball said about Bush generate. In our country, what some lame-brained celebrity has to say about the government is more important than what the government is doing that will affect us all.

[Oztrich Boy]

This could be a good thing if used properly.

Al Gore says the same thing about carbon offsets.

[snarks_when_bored]

Information in the hands of a government bureaucrat is like crack in the pipe of Marion Barry...

[voltaires_zit]

> This could be a good thing if used properly.

Giving money and power to the government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
- PJ O'Rourke

You may claim you didn't know what, exactly, was going to go wrong, but you have no basis for believing that things aren't going to end badly.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

... develop computer algorithms that ... some behavioral scientists say can predict terrorist behavior.

Come on! How hard can it be to create an algorithm that matches names of people against this list?

[The Wall]

Honestly, when have you ever seen anything of this importance not misused by either side of the government. This is bad, bad business.

[mgstarr]

WASHINGTON - The nation's top two law enforcement officials acknowledged Friday the FBI broke the law to secretly pry out personal information about Americans. They apologized and vowed to prevent further illegal intrusions.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales left open the possibility of pursuing criminal charges against FBI agents or lawyers who improperly used the USA Patriot Act in pursuit of suspected terrorists and spies.

How about the idiots who gave us this travesty?

...in pursuit of suspected terrorists and spies.

What a lie.

[Lancey Howard]

[takenoprisoner]

As if terrorists are going to use a credit card to purchase a bomb.

The problem is that the fed has allowed in so many terrorists that they must track us all.

What the fed should be doing is advising muhammed he might want to consider returning to his homeland til this so called WOT is over. Muhammed should be advised that things might get a little testy here if we have another terrorist attack.

Of course we can't do that. That would be offensive to the religion of peace. /sarc