Wiretapping Lawsuit Against AT&T Dismissed 597
BalanceOfJudgement writes "A major victory by the federal government was won today when a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit against AT&T for providing phone records to the federal government. From the article: 'The court is persuaded that requiring AT&T to confirm or deny whether it has disclosed large quantities of telephone records to the federal government could give adversaries of this country valuable insight into the government's intelligence activities'" Not to be confused with the EFF case, this case was filed by the ACLU on behalf of author Studs Terkel and other activists who argued that their constitutional rights had been violated by the actions of AT&T and the NSA.
IT? (Score:0, Informative)
Re:What?! (Score:4, Informative)
Wrong. This is not about wiretapping. This is about data mining. The wiretapping is a separate issue. This issue is about raw aggregate data. It's essentially the data on the second page of your phone bill.
Whether or not you feel this is wrong, it is NOT wiretapping.
EFF is still going strong. Join and donate (Score:5, Informative)
Slashdot readers, more than just about anyone else, understand why the EFF's work is so important. YRO, right?
Got Encryption? [eff.org]
Like that the Supreme Court upheld Betamax? [eff.org]
Like your Broadcast-flag-free gear? [eff.org]
But most Slashdot members haven't joined the EFF. The EFF is fighting organizations that are thousands of times the size of the EFF, and the EFF is winning- that's the sort of thing to make you think Join the EFF today [eff.org]. Someone has to pay for the EFF, and right now that someone isn't 98% of Slashdot.
Yes, really. Slashdot has members in the high-hundred-thousands or low-millions. The EFF has nowhere near even 1/30th or 1/40th of that many members. 39 of 40 Slashdot members are relying on the donations of that 40th member to keep the EFF going. The 'Foundation' in Electronic Frontier Foundation doesn't mean 'trust fund.' It means 'you can make a tax deductable donation and that'll be helpful.'
Did you like that the Communications Decency Act [eff.org]got killed?
Remember how quickly Sony got slammed for their rootkit [eff.org]?
Remember how long it took for non-technical people to understand how damaging the rootkit was? That's part of why the EFF is so important- they understand why the technical details matter so that they're ready when you call. But a small non-profit member-based organization [eff.org] depends on money from their members to run.
Disclaimer- I support the EFF and I know many of the people there- the 23 people who make the EFF look like it's 10x the size it is.Re:Why don't you... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:4 words (Score:1, Informative)
Also see wikipedia's entry on Assassination market [wikipedia.org].
Re:RIP America (Score:5, Informative)
This bad is because 1) the President/gov't is *not* suppose to be above the law, 2) any evidence obtained from this ill gotten booty would not be usable in court, this in turn makes convicting the terrorist that much more difficult and 3) the harm done out weighs the benefits.
Wouldn't the right of free assembly(1st amendment [findlaw.com]) and the right against unreasonable searches(4th amendment [findlaw.com]) come into play when tracking calls? It's ok for the gov't to disregard those rights in the pursuit of ______?
The Constitution was written as an attempt to prevent tyranny, by chipping away at the Bill of Rights and increasing the Executive branch's power(back-boor vetos [boston.com]) US citizens continue to lose legal means of protecting themselves from a tyrannical government.
Here is some reading material for you:
Bruce Schenier on NSA & Bush's illegal wiretaps [schneier.com]
Bush blocks internal probe into illegal wiretaps [pitt.edu]
An Imminent Threat (to the Constitution) [washingtonpost.com]
There is more involved than just tracking who you are calling. That's just the cover story to distract you while the power grab is going on.
TFO. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Why don't you... (Score:2, Informative)
I'd have loved to see that. Especially since it's my opinion that the debate was rehearsed. Bush had some sort of blocky hump on his back, probably a prompter. Kerry had checked a peice of paper in his pocket at least once. When you cheat on a presidential debate like you were trying to pass Highschool Biology... something's wrong.
Re:Why don't you... (Score:5, Informative)
Right.... Their arrests were completely unrelated to crossing a police line after losing their court case [bbc.co.uk].
This past presidential election there were actually _4_ presidential candidates.
No, there were at least 74 [wikipedia.org] candidates, of which 6 could have theoretically (due to being on enough state's ballots) won the election. (Oddly, you omitted Ralph Nader - Independent/Reform (spite?) and Peroutka - Constitution).
Michael Badnarik the candidate for the Libertarian party, and David Cobb the candidate for the Green party were both arrested when they showed up for the debate. Some democracy, eh?
They weren't invited to the debate. They lost their court case. They crossed a police line. They were arrested. American democracy is fine, the Libertarian & Green parties, on the other hand....
Green Party Real Story (Score:2, Informative)
I'm glad you listed your non existant sources when giving away this rudely incorrect information.
Pretty much everything you said in that statement is wrong, lets recap
The Green party is for the relaxation of only marajuana laws not the ones you listed.
Abolishing the senate and intelligence agencies? What are you even talking about?
The plans to "destroy the US economy" and the ubiquitous "other ridiculous plans" are ridiculous notions in themselves and NOT something the Green party advocates.
It is true the Greens are for same sex marriage and anti death penalty, but I honestly dont think most people believe thats fringe or crazy at all
Congratulations, you're an idiot. It's really sad you got modded 5 informative for that.
Go to www.gp.org for the real stances on the issues. Don't make shit up or believe that.
Re:As a matter of fact... (Score:3, Informative)
Quibbles about your history (Score:3, Informative)
One of the worst days in human history was the day in 1849 when a U.S. Federal judge declared that corporations have the same rights as individuals.
First, you've the date wrong. The case cited is Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, [wikipedia.org] 118 U.S. 394 (1886) [findlaw.com].
Second, it really wasn't decided by a judge as part of the case; it was merely a remark from one inserted into the decision by a court reporter.
Third, that wasn't the ultimate toll of doom. The real problem was Dodge v. Ford Motor Company [wikipedia.org] in 1919, in which the Michigan Supreme Court first ruled that a corporation had no obligation to society other than seeking profit for its shareholders... a case oft cited by the SCOTUS since.
And thus, we have an entity with most of the legal rights of a person, and the legal obligation to act like a sociopath to whatever degree permitted by law.
The bad news is that there really isn't any good path to fixing the problem. Most of the suggestions to "repeal" this are ill-considered knee-jerk responses to the problem, without considering the reasons that led to corporations, nor the impact of changing the rules.