Not really. I see people on FR who would have had kittens if the Clinton Admin did something like this downplay the government getting this kind of data now.
Is anyone suggesting that the government can have whatever data it wants and use it however it wants?
I am asking, if the standard for the government is "they need this data to fight the war on terror", when what constraints ARE there on federal power during that time if people assent?
I'm not sure where the limits should be, but I AM sure that we need to define "victory" in the "war on terror". I am aware of the open-endedness of the WOT as a plausible if not valid justification for all sorts of stuff.
Well, we agree there. Otherwise the WOT can be an open-ended process to erode constraints on power. This is not about my privacy - this is about making sure the fedgov knows there are limits on its powers.
But there IS currently a war, and wars call for, well, bad stuff.
I agree entirely. I have said repeatedly that in times of war, the rules can be bent. But they cannot be discarded wholesale.
Unfortunately, I have no idea where to take it next. HOW do we control tnis stuff. I personally like the idea of someting like inadmissability of any evidence gathered this way for a criminal proceeding. But the problem with that is our friends on the left think that war is a crime. Cf Moussaoui