Anyone who still thinks President Bush's secret spying program affects only bad guys should read "NSA's Domestic Spying Grows As Agency Sweeps Up Data" on the front page of this morning's Wall Street Journal. It lays out in brutal detail just how the program affects you and me.
To give an example from the article: "If a person suspected of terrorist connections is believed to be in a U.S. city - for instance, Detroit, a community with a high concentration of Muslim Americans - the government's spy systems may be directed to collect and analyze all electronic communications into and out of the city."
That means everything. E-mails. Phone calls. Financial transactions. Internet activity.
Everything.
For everyone.
Take a moment to think about that. Simply living in the same area as someone suspected of terrorist connections means that you are now a suspect as well. As a result, the government can - and does - suck up and comb through everything that you do on the phone or online, with no warrants and no accountability.
So much for probable cause. So much for individualized suspicion.
And so much for the Fourth Amendment. You know, the one that bars the government from searching your house or car or life without a warrant "particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
To give an example from the article: "If a person suspected of terrorist connections is believed to be in a U.S. city - for instance, Detroit, a community with a high concentration of Muslim Americans - the government's spy systems may be directed to collect and analyze all electronic communications into and out of the city."
That means everything. E-mails. Phone calls. Financial transactions. Internet activity.
Everything.
For everyone.
Take a moment to think about that. Simply living in the same area as someone suspected of terrorist connections means that you are now a suspect as well. As a result, the government can - and does - suck up and comb through everything that you do on the phone or online, with no warrants and no accountability.
So much for probable cause. So much for individualized suspicion.
And so much for the Fourth Amendment. You know, the one that bars the government from searching your house or car or life without a warrant "particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
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