Putrefied Cow wrote: > > However, NSA, the supersecret spy agency known best for its worldwide > eavesdropping capabilities, for the first time in the history of the > House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence refused to hand over > documents on the Echelon program, claiming attorney/client privilege. > > Congress is "concerned about the privacy rights of American citizens and > whether or not there are constitutional safeguards being circumvented by > the manner in which the intelligence agencies are intercepting and/or > receiving international communications...from foreign nations that would > otherwise be prohibited by...the limitations on the collection of > domestic intelligence," Barr said. "This very straightforward > amendment...will help guarantee the privacy rights of American citizens > [and] will protect the oversight responsibilities of the Congress which > are now under assault" by the intelligence community. > > Copyright 1999 FCW Government Technology Group I've always found in somewhat refreshing to know that I am one of those endowed with the in-alienable right not to be spied on by the U.S. government. (Or do they have those insidious Canadians perform the dirty deed?) And what of those less fortunate than to be American? I seen to recall a Radio Communications Treaty of 1932 and the Radio Communications Act of 1934, forbidding such activity. Perhaps silence is assent... A libertarian or even a Jeffersonian would tell you that rights not derived from the State don't stop at national borders. A government that won't respect the wog's rights, won't respect the citizen's either. Mind you, while it is alright to kill civilians collaterally in Europe, it is considered bad taste to toast Branch Davidians in the U.S., at least as long as the 1st amendment to the Constitution stands. All this bespeaks a culture where it in the interests of 'national security' to classify as Top Secret that there is cannibalism going on in North Korea. Must be a good excuse to prop up another oppressive government or something. P.S. - there should be no space character between butt and heads in the subject line.
