Should the US Government Continue Wiretapping Telephones
By petebaja
@petebaja (516)
Mexico
February 28, 2008 10:47am CST
The law that authorizes various government agencies to listen in on our phone conversations, without court pre-approval, is set to expire. President Bush is urging Congress to renew the law.
Bush states that this wiretapping operation, without a warrant from a court, is important in gathering information against certain bad elements.
Opponents of the law say that it violates our civil rights and that it is open for abuse by the government. They may say it is being used against extremists, but, it can be used to collect data on an innocent civilian.
Should the government wiretap phone conversations without FISA Court approval? Should the Congress block the law? Could they use some information against political rivals or for oher non-terror related activities? What's your opinion?
1 person likes this
8 responses
@jordanatmeh (31)
• United States
29 Feb 08
no because they should not be allowed to intrude on our personal business. This is a free country and we all have rights.
1 person likes this
@warmweatherwoman (2233)
• Atlantic City, New Jersey
28 Feb 08
The question really should be should the government be allowed to pull half the s h i t they do pull???? I for one am against the wire tapping- I don't appreciate knowing that at any given moment any word they consider a keyword i.e., bomb, president, war could warrant them to tap our lines.......
1 person likes this
@bobmnu (8157)
• United States
28 Feb 08
The law is Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). This law was first passed in 1978 (Carter Administration and a Democratic Congress) and was modified in 2001 to include groups not backed by a government. It allows for the government to gather intelligence information between and among foreigners on terrorties controlled by the US. If you are talking to foreign agents then you might have the government listen to you phone calls. The problem that is holding up the bill is the congress refusal to grant immunity to the Telecom Companies that cooperate with the government and have done so in the past from being sued. If you are making a phone call to you friend in the US it is not going to be listened in on unless one of you have been talking to a foreign agent.
@petebaja (516)
• Mexico
10 Mar 08
Today let's wiretap foreigners, tomorrow your bedrooms! Let's face it, you give the government the power to do anything, it creates a life of it's own and becomes an unstoppable monster. I see new taxes created all the time for temporary reasons that wind up being permanent.
Another example is the RICO act which was created with the intent of busting the mafia - organized criminals who were extortionists and cold-blooded killers. Now, the RICO statute is used as an additional charge to corporate CEO's, bankers and other white collar crime violators (who have not been charged with any violent crimes). I know some of these guys like Ken Lay deserve to have the book thrown at them for their fraudulent acts. But using an antiquated mafia statute to prosecute a non-violent banker or corporate chief is a bit of a stretch of the law for me!
Like I said, today your overseas telephone calls, tomorrow - your bedrooms! Watch out for Big Brother....coming to a bedroom near you!
@superjockh (237)
• United States
29 Feb 08
I don't know why people are making such a big deal out of this. It is not an inconvenience like authorities searching our home without a warrant. I know I do not have anything to hide during my telephone conversations. Besides, if you read the details of the law, it gives pre-approval to listen to telephone conversations from and to the countries of the Middle East. Wire-tapping does not in any way violate my civil rights and I am not so concerned about it. So what they do? I do not have anything to hide! Do you?
-Feel Free to Disagree!
@bobmnu (8157)
• United States
1 Mar 08
You point out the one fact that the media fails to point out and that is the conservation has to have an overseas component to it. What is upsetting to the media is that their phone calls might be listened to as several major news outlets have paid reporters who are Al Quida opertives. One example is CNN had a video of a Sniper shooting an American Soldier and they showed it on the news. It cam from Al Quida. Several years ago one of the major news Anchors when asked if you had knowledge of an attack on a US Soldiers would you report it to the Army. His answer was no because he job was to film the news and not to change events. He would give up American Lives to get the story.
To date only the News Media and the ACLU has filed suit claiming the the law was wrong. The court denied the suit because they could show no harm or that they had ever been wiretapped.
@8ctavarium (552)
• Australia
29 Feb 08
There are always positives and negatives to this argument, but at the end of the day, they are violating people's privacy and civil rights. But it should be ok if they are highly certain that the users are a threat in some manner. Only if.
@r2theicky (14)
• United States
28 Feb 08
The answer to this is NO! We should not be wiretapping our citizens. It's bad enough that our new passports have Rfid chips embedded within them, so if you try and escape outside the country and you don't ditch your passport, looks like they can find you. And now they want us to get real id cards with the same rfid chips put in them! Are we human beings or just pawns? I have yet to figure that answer out.
@humbleme (1004)
• India
29 Feb 08
Hello petebaja,Some Govt agencies might have good and bad reasons to do it, in way it helps to find and trace criminals,bad elements and their activities etc and I understand its purpose but why innocent civilians should be harrased?I think this a failure in part of these agencies,as
the real bad elements are roaming free and innocent civilians are getting abused for no reasons.Thanks
@MntlWard (878)
• United States
28 Feb 08
I'd like to point out that it's not FISA that's expiring. It's the so-called "Protect America Act" which allows the government to bypass the FISA court and use wiretaps on American citizens without warrants. FISA will still continue.
To answer your question: No, the government should not be allowed to use a wiretap without a warrant.
