5 ms·

Probably not, but why would you be worried about them and not the feds?

toyg 3y ago
I'm not American, but from what I understand the FBI is more politically exposed than small-town cops. If the Bureau screws up, it's national news and someone loses a job; if Sheriff McBigot screws up, as long as he can count on the support of a few local villagers he'll be just fine.
- fallingknife 3y ago
  The feds have repeatedly been found to misuse the surveillance capabilities under the FISA court, and no one has been fired. https://epic.org/surveillance-court-finds-fbi-repeatedly-misused-fisa-program-to-conduct-unlawful-surveillance-of-americans/ https://epic.org/surveillance-court-finds-fbi-repeatedly-mis... Federal law enforcement and our intelligence agencies are politically powerful organizations that pretty much do as they please and never face consequences. Even our elected officials fear them. As senator Chuck Schumer put it “Let me tell you, you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you.”
  - woodruffw 3y ago
    None of this contradicts what the GP said. Both are unaccountable in different ways; a local small-town sheriff is much more likely to get away with things that the FBI can’t, and vice versa.
plagiarist 3y ago
Neither group should have the power but I am far more likely to be in danger from a nearby guy on a power trip than from the FBI.
- JadeNB 3y ago
  > Neither group should have the power but I am far more likely to be in danger from a nearby guy on a power trip than from the FBI. I think that that's a less obvious conclusion than one might think, even though I share your more acute distrust of local than of federal law enforcement. It might seem extremely unlikely for someone inconsequential like, let's be honest, many of us here to come to the attention of a national body; but history shows that all it takes is being affiliated with a group or movement that makes the federal government nervous to become the subject of FBI scrutiny, and this likelihood is heightened the easier surveillance becomes.

toyg 3y ago

I'm not American, but from what I understand the FBI is more politically exposed than small-town cops. If the Bureau screws up, it's national news and someone loses a job; if Sheriff McBigot screws up, as long as he can count on the support of a few local villagers he'll be just fine.

fallingknife 3y ago
The feds have repeatedly been found to misuse the surveillance capabilities under the FISA court, and no one has been fired. https://epic.org/surveillance-court-finds-fbi-repeatedly-misused-fisa-program-to-conduct-unlawful-surveillance-of-americans/ https://epic.org/surveillance-court-finds-fbi-repeatedly-mis... Federal law enforcement and our intelligence agencies are politically powerful organizations that pretty much do as they please and never face consequences. Even our elected officials fear them. As senator Chuck Schumer put it “Let me tell you, you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you.”
- woodruffw 3y ago
  None of this contradicts what the GP said. Both are unaccountable in different ways; a local small-town sheriff is much more likely to get away with things that the FBI can’t, and vice versa.

plagiarist 3y ago

Neither group should have the power but I am far more likely to be in danger from a nearby guy on a power trip than from the FBI.

JadeNB 3y ago
> Neither group should have the power but I am far more likely to be in danger from a nearby guy on a power trip than from the FBI. I think that that's a less obvious conclusion than one might think, even though I share your more acute distrust of local than of federal law enforcement. It might seem extremely unlikely for someone inconsequential like, let's be honest, many of us here to come to the attention of a national body; but history shows that all it takes is being affiliated with a group or movement that makes the federal government nervous to become the subject of FBI scrutiny, and this likelihood is heightened the easier surveillance becomes.