Burned out on NSA blog postings for now, but I'll say this about Google's FISA motion.
Burned out on NSA blog postings for now, but I'll say this about Google's FISA motion.
The government's stance on trying to bury or otherwise obfuscate FISA request numbers demonstrates a deep hypocrisy on their part, which has (in my opinion) necessitated Google to take the action it did. On one hand, the government is trotting out cases now where they say the surveillance programs broke plots -- but on close inspection many of these claims are questionable or just outright false. The government claims that the information revealed about the programs so far (or the release of FISA request ranges as Google quite reasonably wants to do) has already caused "terrorists to change their methods" and cut off information.
I don't buy the government's line on this. Smart terrorists, like smart crooks in general, always assume their communications are under surveillance, even when they're not. And the dumb ones, the dim bulbs, openly discuss their plans with pretty much anyone who comes along, or even on jail phones when there are signs up noting the calls are monitored.
What this FISA numbers battle is really all about is keeping information away from the American people -- not the terrorists. And as far as the government is concerned, if ethically-positive firms like Google are damaged by false accusations in the process -- touch luck. Unacceptable.
The government's stance on trying to bury or otherwise obfuscate FISA request numbers demonstrates a deep hypocrisy on their part, which has (in my opinion) necessitated Google to take the action it did. On one hand, the government is trotting out cases now where they say the surveillance programs broke plots -- but on close inspection many of these claims are questionable or just outright false. The government claims that the information revealed about the programs so far (or the release of FISA request ranges as Google quite reasonably wants to do) has already caused "terrorists to change their methods" and cut off information.
I don't buy the government's line on this. Smart terrorists, like smart crooks in general, always assume their communications are under surveillance, even when they're not. And the dumb ones, the dim bulbs, openly discuss their plans with pretty much anyone who comes along, or even on jail phones when there are signs up noting the calls are monitored.
What this FISA numbers battle is really all about is keeping information away from the American people -- not the terrorists. And as far as the government is concerned, if ethically-positive firms like Google are damaged by false accusations in the process -- touch luck. Unacceptable.
Comments
Post a Comment