It was revealed Thursday night that the US government is tracking bank data data around the world, including "thousands of Americans". The government is defending this, saying that they are only tracking bank data "was carefully controlled to trace only those transactions with an identifiable link to possible terrorist activity." (NY Times)
Wait -- they're only tracking those transactions with an identifiable link to possible terrorist activity and these tracked transactions involve "thousands of Americans"? Does that mean that there are thousands of Americans involved in terrorist funding? Or that the program is larger than acknowledged.
It wouldn't be the first time. Remember when we were told that they were only tracking the phone data of suspected terrorists? Then it came out that they were involved in a huge data-mining operation, aided by most of the major phone companies.
And then there is the warrantless wiretapping. Snow asked this of the controversial program:
"You can go ahead and look at your own polling, and you will find that Americans — if somebody says, 'Do you want a program that listens in on people who have been identified as al Qaeda terrorists?' — the answer would be, 'Yes, I would like to do that. I would like to find data on it.' "Source: New York Times.
The answer is yes. Of course, any sane person would say yes. But how about, you know, getting an actual warrant? Getting a warrant from FISA, as we have learned, was not difficult.
Then again, Snow also
accused news organizations like CNN, The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times of collecting personal data from visitors to their web sites without disclosing it.Source: New York Times.
For some reason, I don't think that the information they receive is the same as, say, banking transaction information.
This is just another example of the current administration trampling American's civil liberties and ignoring the Constitution.
Title edited
Treasury Secretary called it "government at its best" in all seriousness.
--Mike
What ever happened to Conservatism? remember the small-government Conservatives?
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There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.
According to Stephen Colbert, prying into people's private lives is small government.
--Mike
Another Colbertism is that an Iraqi Civil War would be the best possible outcome for the United States -- since by definition we couldn't be involved.
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There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.
Isn't he great?
--Mike
So the government is looking at back records of a few thousand people. How many Americans are there: approximatly 296 million. That's significantly less than .01% of the population that's being investigated. Warrants may not be hard to get but time is of the utmost urgency in the battle against terrorism. Not to mention why does it matter the government is looking at back accounts? Why are people so afriad if they have nothing to hide. Who's to say that there aren't thousands of Americans funding terrorist organizations? Out of 296 million people i'd imagine it's very plausible and likely that there are thousands (if not tens of thousands) of Americans funding terrorist organizations. Inside the US there are radical groups other than Al Qaeda. It's not just Al Qaeda being persecuted for terrorism. It's all terrorist organizations that pose a threat to the security and well being of United States citizens. Ignoring the constitution? The constitution doesn't provide for terrorism. Sorry but new innoventions in the past 220 or so odd years must be recognized. Antiquity only holds it own for so long. Democracy and America was founded on the very ideal of an evolving state able to adapt.