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0 pointsdpark14y ago0 comments

Last time I checked, warrantless wiretaps were illegal. Yet the government has done a lot of that with no apparent reprisal.

And again, I disagree with your assessment. The government gains nothing useful by snooping on its average citizen. It average citizen is not committing crimes. The government can snoop on suspected criminals by getting a warrant. They do not need further freedom to snoop in order to do their jobs.

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dennisgorelik14y ago· 2 in thread

So instead of enforcing prosecution of illegal wiretaps you are suggesting to make grey-area wiretaps illegal? And then not enforce it either, I assume?

That reminds me alcohol prohibition campaign.

dparkOP14y ago

Are you serious? You equate limiting warrantless wiretaps with alcohol prohibition? In your mind limiting the government's power is the same as limiting citizens' freedom?

How about we just enforce the existing wiretap laws instead of making them even looser as you suggest? Sure, if you loosen the laws, there's less illegal activity. Tha doesn't mean there's less activity, though.

How can you think we'd do a better job of prosecuting illegal wiretaps if there were more wiretaps in general? If there are more wiretaps, then there will be less oversight on each individual wiretap. That makes it easier to hide illegal ones, because they get lost among the masses (which is already a problem). Why don't you come up with a way to decrease abuse our existing surveillance systems before you propose expanding them?

dennisgorelik14y ago

1) Your idea of replacing law enforcement [of illegal wiretaps] with even stricter laws without enforcing them - that's what reminds me about alcohol prohibition.

2) You again are attacking a straw man. I'm not suggesting increasing surveillance. I'm suggesting not to pay much attention to it and focus our very limited resources on what's really important:

- Freedom of law-abiding citizens from government persecution.

- Reducing legal restrictions on citizens.

- Freedom of speech.

Government surveillance abuse is not nearly as important as these three principles above.

If you insist that limiting government surveillance is more important, then please name what item in my list you consider less important.

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