Exactly, not illegal because congress passed an unconstitutional law making it legal. Unconstitutional= illegal in my book. These talking heads who support the patriot act stick it. I would rather fight these terrorists in the street than give the government these powers to potetially abuse us with. If these powers don’t exsist then there is a clear defining line were the government would be abusing its authority.
Info gathering has a cost. When the cost drops, as is the case with computer sniffing, the balance between liberty and security needs to be reexamined.
Resource limitations, not Constitutional principles, is what prevented widespread snooping of this sort in 1979. Metadata analysis was not technically possible before the computer revolution, so its implications could not have been considered.
>>Exactly, not illegal because congress passed an unconstitutional law making it legal.
Yes, and upheld by the SCOTUS and enforced by the USDOJ.