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Here is an interesting quote from his remarks that I think could actually be a worthwhile argument that gives some indication that there is serious concern to e
by jervisfm 13y ago
Here is an interesting quote from his remarks that I think could actually be a worthwhile argument that gives some indication that there is serious concern to ensure that the systems are not abused.
> And by the way, with respect to my concerns about privacy issues, I will leave this office at some point, sometime in the last — next 3 1/2 years, and after that, I will be a private citizen. And I suspect that, you know, on — on a list of people who might be targeted, you know, so that somebody could read their emails or — or listen to their phone calls, I’d probably be pretty high on that list. So it’s not as if I don’t have a personal interest in making sure my privacy is protected.
- dcraw 13y agoHe will be escorted by the Secret Service, so he's not going to have a lot of privacy from the federal government either way.
- aetimmes 13y agoFormer President Obama would also have far more power than John Q. Citizen to make his metadata "disappear" if need be. I don't particularly buy this argument.
- A__MJ 13y agoI would interpret that as Obama casting himself in the position of an average citizen to garner a feeling of connection and trust. I'm taking a wild guess, but I doubt that presidents get bumped down to "average dude" status by intelligence agencies after they leave office.
- sliverstorm 13y agoI doubt that presidents get bumped down to "average dude" status by intelligence agencies after they leave office. Isn't that exactly his point? After he leaves office, he will be very high on "List of people to snoop"?
- A__MJ 13y agoI would interpret that as Obama casting himself in the position of an average citizen to garner a feeling of connection and trust. I'm taking a wild guess, but I doubt that presidents get bumped down to "average dude" status by intelligence agencies after they leave office.
- Nelson69 13y agoThe thing is, you don't know about the abuse until its too late. Plus he's retired at the time, he'll do some 'consulting' and maybe speak for a lot of money but he'll have his security detail and he's done. Kind of the ultimate abuse would be some future presidential candidate's records being gone through and perhaps in his youth he had some questionable friends or something. Our politics and politicians are not nearly civil enough to have these kinds of tools and information available. It's basically just a hope and a wish that the NSA folks with access take their jobs seriously and take the nation's security seriously and that they are otherwise trustworthy about it. Not long after 9/11, anthrax, anthrax that originated in a top secret US defense lab was sent to politicians in DC... In Fort Hood Texas, a member of the US military, a guy they vetted and indoctrinated, went through their background checks and they accepted shot up a bunch of people.. These were trusted people with trusted access. The knives are already out, should we shut this stuff down, as soon as there is another terrorist anything the other side will use it for political gain. How do you undo it?