Re:Echelon (Score 1)

I find it amazing that Echelon has not upset people to the point where they are marching on Washington. It is inexcusable that our government could listen to our private communications in this fashion.

To obtain telephone wiretap authority to listen in on a single individual, law enforcement must prove that it has a compelling reason to believe this person is doing something illegal - and yet to listen to ALL of us the government needs no such proof whatsoever. Shameful, just shameful.

It strikes me that such monitoring is probably a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution:

Article the sixth [Amendment IV]:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Now, it's clear that the Founders were trying to protect people from having their houses ransacked by the government with this Amendment, but it would seem to me that one could make a compelling argument for a digital-age interpretation of these words that would guarantee electronic communications (telephone, fax, electronic mail) protection from "unreasonable searches and seizures", i.e. broad-based wiretapping without a warrant, by including them in "papers, and effects". I think that if the Founders were around today they'd find this consistent with the spirit of the Amendment.

Maybe this is something for the ACLU? (Shouldn't have let my membership lapse...)

-- Jason Lefkowitz