Apparently, while Congress is supposed to be working
on the Fiscal Cliff under emergency year end conditions, it has been working on
other things, like surveillance."
The Business Insider reported early Dec. 29 that the
Senate has approved a five-year extension of the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act (FISA). The law appears
to allow the government to tap into communications (including emails and
probably social media under privacy settings) with foreign nationals suspected
of terrorist activities, especially when Americans are abroad. It is less clear that it would apply at home
(without a warrant).
The link for the “Agence France Presse” story is here.
Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) has supported the
bill, and admitted that it sometimes could listen in on calls to American
citizens at home. She claims several
major attacks have been stopped by the warrantless searches.
It is probably unlikely that Americans ordinarily
are wiretapped, except by happenstance or unusual coincidence. Yet, once I walked into a bar in Baltimore
and overheard a dangerous conversation. The “Ice Man” scenario can sometimes
happen.
No comments:
Post a Comment