Are we all being monitored?

[kohodog]

I don't understand these proponents of an Orwellian society. Are we still free if every movement, every word and every transaction is recorded and monitored? NSA probably can't get FISA approval because they are casting a huge net and cherry picking phrases and then listening. Are we all being monitored? Is the Bush administration on the offensive like never before because they are invading ALL individual civil rights? Their offensive campaign leads me to believe this is really serious ( and scary) stuff.

To get a court order you would need a name and a smidgen of evidence. But if no court needs to approve a request, any guess will do. Any illegal secret technology info will do.

[stepnw1f]

1. I Hope They Are Watching Us...

...so I can say:

FUCK YOU!

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

2. I believe the answer is yes.

I also think anybody that uses the internet at all has long ago given up many civil liberties of privacy. I have no doubt that there are many many reference words trapped in some surveillance computer as soon as you type them into google.

[Dave Reynolds]

3. I hope they get a good shot of my ass

as I moon them.

[madeline_con]

4. Saddam... bomb... Bin Laden.... the crow flies at midnight.

There's a few keywords they can check out. When they're done, I've got something else they can look into...

[Mz Pip]

5. I doubt it.

The government doesn't have the personnel to monitor everyone's internet activity. So I don't think we are all being monitored. It's just too big of a job. There really still are more of us then there are of them.

There are probably key words that trigger some kind of warning. But if they want to monitor my internet use they will be pretty bored. My overstock.com purchases hardly warrant much scrutiny.

That said, I don't think they should be doing any of this without a warrant.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[Silverhair]

6. Doubtful. Lots of paranoia around here.

I takes too much manpower and computer power to do the kind of monitoring that people here are afraid of. Instead they will target known and suspected enemies, and monitor who they talk to, and who those people talk to, looking for patterns. A message board like this is too small potatoes for them to fool with.

[Harper_is_Bush]

7. It's quite unlikely we're all being monitored.

They don't have the manpower for such a massive undertaking.

I'm sure you and I are passing under the radar!

[ThoughtCriminal]

8. Everybody IM or email each other

About 10 gigabytes of random numbers. Let them cruch that for a few years.
:evilgrin:

Oh - and I think they need to investigate the steganography embedded in the Lounge kitten pics a bit more closely, that's where all the really subversive stuff is hidden.