Bush Wiretapping Now In Obama's Court (Congress, illegal, suspected, Barack Obama)

[Mattie Jo]

Illegal Wire-Tapping Suit Now in Obama's Court | CommonDreams.org

President-elect Barack Obama dismayed civil liberties groups last summer when he voted to authorize President Bush's clandestine wiretapping program after publicly denouncing it.

Now, thanks to a ruling by a San Francisco federal judge, Obama must take a stand on whether the Bush administration violated Americans' rights when it intercepted their phone calls and e-mails without seeking a court's permission.

The Jan. 5 decision by Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker revived the last remaining lawsuit against the program Bush authorized after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Without seeking congressional approval or court warrants, the president ordered the National Security Agency to intercept calls and e-mails between Americans and suspected foreign terrorists.

Obama's options

He could continue Bush's defense strategy to press for dismissal of the suit on national-security grounds. He could switch sides and acknowledge that the program was illegal from the start. Or he could find a middle ground, such as allowing the case to proceed and leaving its resolution to the courts.


http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6836

"The National Security Agency had access to all Americans' communications --- faxes, phone calls, and their computer communications," Tice claimed. "It didn't matter whether you were in Kansas, in the middle of the country, and you never made foreign communications at all. They monitored all communications."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...MNJ7159LAP.DTL

[Jim280]

Wow, I bet they got an eye full reading some of my email. not to mention some of my phone conversations. I best be more careful of what I write and say.

[nightbird47]

Originally Posted by Jim280

Wow, I bet they got an eye full reading some of my email. not to mention some of my phone conversations. I best be more careful of what I write and say.

I assume that anything I write online, be in an open fourm, chat room, pm or an IM is scanned at the least. But we do have a right of free speech including the right to disagree with the government or those who run it. I won't clam up and be silent because that implies my approval of the wiretapping by my actions. Silence can be as destructive as words.

[Cyber Queen]

Well if you send email over the internet good luck on thinking it is secure. It can be hacked very easily as for phone calls if you talk on a cordless phone I can pick that up with my kids baby monitor. When will people realize in the age of "wireless" phones and computers it can be intercepted very easily by your neighbor.

I have zero problem with Bush or Obama listening to my phone calls or reading my emails since I have nothing to hide from the government. But again if you want security, use the postal service to mail letters not email and talk to people in person not on cordless phones.

[Jim280]

I made the post as a joke I agree with both the above post. Nothing is really secure on a computer as some folks may think, and certainly not secure on any phone. I know a 16 yr old kid that hacked into bank computers just to show them how weak their security was.