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A Decade-Old Gag Order, Lifted

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Re: A Decade-Old Gag Order, Lifted

#91

This is part of why the ACLU, EFF and NRA are the institutions I'm most in favor of donating to. The encroachment of civil liberties, increasingly intrusive actions from our own government and the like are getting pretty rediculous.

> ACLU, EFF and NRA I consider my neighbour being able to own an assault rifle as an encroachment of my civil liberties.

How does that even process? Sure, if your neighbor is firing off rounds in the street, that's an encroachment, but your neighbor simply owning a thing you morally disagree with in no way affects you. If your neighbor keeps an AR-15 in a locked cabinet and takes it down to the range for weekend target shooting, how would you even know?

Edit: I really should have taken note of your spelling of "neighbour". This post was written under the assumption that both of you have a constitutionally protected right to bear arms.

Re: A Decade-Old Gag Order, Lifted

#92
This stuff is much worse than NSA data collection. Gag orders are evil, and secret courts are even worse. I really wish people would stop worrying about government surveillance - who cares what people know about you? - and start worrying about this instead.

Re: A Decade-Old Gag Order, Lifted

#93
post #83
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The bad thing is that the reputation of the FBI and other such agencies is now such that an analogy with the Hoover days can no longer be rejected out of hand 'because they'd never do such a thing'. Not only that but when someone's life is as public as a politician - and their career dependent on that credibility - it takes far less than Hoover-era style blackmail to ruin such a person. So even if the FBI is no lon…

You're giving the FBI a whole lot of credit for their ability to orchestrate what would be one of the great conspiracies of the last 100 years: despite the fractious nature of modern politics, with politicians charging through revolving doors of office and then lobbying jobs all the while accusing the sitting President of being a traitor or even a foreign agent, not one of these attempts at blackmail has ever been br…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brad-friedman/formerly-gagged-...

Some smoke, but no fire.

"President Obama’s recently convened executive review of the NSA admitted: “In light of the lessons of our own history… at some point in the future, high-level government officials will decide that this massive database of extraordinarily sensitive private information is there for the plucking.”"

From:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/2013-12-1...

Re: A Decade-Old Gag Order, Lifted

#94
post #23

This is reporting that Nick Merrill, who was under a gag order restricting his ability to talk about a subpoena he received in 2004, is no longer gagged. It links to an editorial he wrote (anonymously) about that gag order, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03... , in which he writes: > "Based on the context of the demand -- a context that the FBI still won't let me discuss publicly -- I suspe…

> By all appearances, a significant chunk of the US law enforcement apparatus has simply gone rogue, stopped respecting Congress and the courts and is instead focused on increasing its own power. I truly don't understand why nothing is done about that. Why doesn't anyone lose their job over this, let alone go to jail? I mean, I've gotten used to such indifference in Russia, but US seemed like the country that shouldn…

I can understand why LE goes rogue; it's simply in the nature of police to expand their power whenever possible.

What I can't understand is why judges tolerate it.

Re: A Decade-Old Gag Order, Lifted

#95
post #83
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The bad thing is that the reputation of the FBI and other such agencies is now such that an analogy with the Hoover days can no longer be rejected out of hand 'because they'd never do such a thing'. Not only that but when someone's life is as public as a politician - and their career dependent on that credibility - it takes far less than Hoover-era style blackmail to ruin such a person. So even if the FBI is no lon…

You're giving the FBI a whole lot of credit for their ability to orchestrate what would be one of the great conspiracies of the last 100 years: despite the fractious nature of modern politics, with politicians charging through revolving doors of office and then lobbying jobs all the while accusing the sitting President of being a traitor or even a foreign agent, not one of these attempts at blackmail has ever been br…

It boggles my mind that post-Snowden people still think it's not possible for people to keep quiet about such things, I mean even Apple is able to maintain an enormous amount of privacy of things going on behind closed doors, the idea that one single person being blackmailed and not saying anything about it is difficult to believe.....I dunno.

Re: A Decade-Old Gag Order, Lifted

#96
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're giving the FBI a whole lot of credit for their ability to orchestrate what would be one of the great conspiracies of the last 100 years: despite the fractious nature of modern politics, with politicians charging through revolving doors of office and then lobbying jobs all the while accusing the sitting President of being a traitor or even a foreign agent, not one of these attempts at blackmail has ever been br…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brad-friedman/formerly-gagged-... Some smoke, but no fire. "President Obama’s recently convened executive review of the NSA admitted: “In light of the lessons of our own history… at some point in the future, high-level government officials will decide that this massive database of extraordinarily sensitive private information is there for the plucking.”" From: http://www.whitehouse.gov/s…

Sibel Edmonds alleges that the FBI collected information about the lesbian affair of a Democratic Congresswoman. That is a bombshell accusation, one I'd hazard would be more newsworthy to most people in the US than the Snowden disclosures.

Why can I only find references to that allegation on sites like LewRockwell.com, and not on WaPo or the NYT?

Re: A Decade-Old Gag Order, Lifted

#97
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're giving the FBI a whole lot of credit for their ability to orchestrate what would be one of the great conspiracies of the last 100 years: despite the fractious nature of modern politics, with politicians charging through revolving doors of office and then lobbying jobs all the while accusing the sitting President of being a traitor or even a foreign agent, not one of these attempts at blackmail has ever been br…

It boggles my mind that post-Snowden people still think it's not possible for people to keep quiet about such things, I mean even Apple is able to maintain an enormous amount of privacy of things going on behind closed doors, the idea that one single person being blackmailed and not saying anything about it is difficult to believe.....I dunno.

What did Snowden change about any of this? The programs Snowden revealed were so well-known --- many of them having been reported in the press prior to Snowden's leaks --- that you can find them alluded to in the first edition of Applied Cryptography, back in the 1990s.

Were you surprised by the Snowden leaks? Even after AT&T and Room 641a?

Re: A Decade-Old Gag Order, Lifted

#98
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brad-friedman/formerly-gagged-... Some smoke, but no fire. "President Obama’s recently convened executive review of the NSA admitted: “In light of the lessons of our own history… at some point in the future, high-level government officials will decide that this massive database of extraordinarily sensitive private information is there for the plucking.”" From: http://www.whitehouse.gov/s…

Sibel Edmonds alleges that the FBI collected information about the lesbian affair of a Democratic Congresswoman. That is a bombshell accusation, one I'd hazard would be more newsworthy to most people in the US than the Snowden disclosures. Why can I only find references to that allegation on sites like LewRockwell.com, and not on WaPo or the NYT?

I have absolutely no clue. But that's a weird one, especially since it never resulted in any kind of fall-out either way. You'd take that those accusations would not be left to stand without a solid rebuttal.

Re: A Decade-Old Gag Order, Lifted

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ACLU, EFF and NRA I consider my neighbour being able to own an assault rifle as an encroachment of my civil liberties.

How does that even process? Sure, if your neighbor is firing off rounds in the street, that's an encroachment, but your neighbor simply owning a thing you morally disagree with in no way affects you. If your neighbor keeps an AR-15 in a locked cabinet and takes it down to the range for weekend target shooting, how would you even know? Edit: I really should have taken note of your spelling of "neighbour". This post wa…

I disagree with my neighbour being able to keep anthrax-infected sheep on her property too, no matter that she tells me she's got a super safe pen for them, and really prefers the taste.

Although admittedly I wouldn't know until she gets raided by the CDC or accidentally the whole nearby biosphere.

Re: A Decade-Old Gag Order, Lifted

#100
post #77
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I truly don't understand why nothing is done about that. Why doesn't anyone lose their job over this, let alone go to jail? My suspicion is that the FBI and various three-letter-agencies have dirt on most of the elected representatives. The mass surveillance apparatus is the perfect tool for collecting blackmail material on current and future leaders.

do not forget that Snowden made it pretty clear the NSA was spying on the German Prime Minister, for the german intelligence agency! ...guess what may have been the offer they had. My guess? One agency spy on the other's leader as part of the job, exchange for its own leader info = ultimate power without the risk of a treason charge while investigating your own leader.

*German Chancellor
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