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Secret warrants only in the context of counterintelligence and counterespionage investigations that target foreigners. Which in that particular context I don’t
by mdhb 2y ago
Secret warrants only in the context of counterintelligence and counterespionage investigations that target foreigners.
Which in that particular context I don’t know what else would possibly be considered a reasonable alternative.
The vast majority of countries don’t have to go in front of a court at all to do this exact same thing they just go ahead and do it. I know people here tend to get super pissed about the boogeyman that is FISA but if you had a more transparent example to point to I would love to see it. I think people get really caught up on the fact that they personally don’t have access to that information and then make a large magical leap to all kinds of conclusions that aren’t based in reality at all.
If that system was being abused to go after illegitimate targets for example then sure, that’s something to be pissed about but I don’t think we have any compelling evidence of that at this stage.
I just find the entire public debate on this topic incredibly lacking in nuance but never lacking in conviction.
- michaelt 2y ago> Secret warrants only in the context of counterintelligence and counterespionage investigations that target foreigners That sounds like a limited context - but the courts were happy to give spy agencies a warrant covering records of every phone call made in America [1] So it turns out the warrants don't have to describe the place or person to be searched, and don't have to be limited to foreigners. And that wasn't a one-off error or individual mistaken judge - it was reauthorized 34 times under 14 different judges. Granted some of the rules were changed after that specific surveillance was revealed - but the "fixes" ignored the fundamental problem that secret courts aren't effective at preventing spy agency overreach. [1] https://www.csis.org/analysis/fact-sheet-section-215-usa-patriot-act https://www.csis.org/analysis/fact-sheet-section-215-usa-pat...