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Why a top terrorism analyst thinks US government surveillance has gone too far
- yoster 13y agoAs long as I can tell a cop to go fuck themselves without being arrested, I don't feel oppressed.
- gasull 13y agoGood luck doing that in the US.
- yoster 13y agoI have done that plenty of times. As long as you do it where there are witnesses and you don't do anything else...
- mtgx 13y agoBetter do that soon: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/06/new-york-annoy-police-law_n_3398554.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/06/new-york-annoy-poli...
- ahallock 13y ago'New York State Senate Wants To Make It A Felony To 'Annoy' A Police Officer' -- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/06/new-york-annoy-police-law_n_3398554.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/06/new-york-annoy-poli... Now it says there must be physical contact, but the cop would probably just bump into you to get the charge. Look at what happened to Adam Kokesh during the Philadelphia Smoke Down Prohibition event. They claimed Adam assaulted the officer when he clearly just bumped into him and was trying to gain his balance. These people take serious things like assault and water the definitions down to suit their corrupt MO. EDIT: Tangential, but Kokesh was just arrested again during Smoke Down Prohibition D.C.
- dram 13y agoSome places will charge you with "addressing words to officers". The real problem is a cop can arrest you for anything and call it obstruction of justice. And then either the prosecutor will reject the case or you'll get charged and have to spend $2000+ to plead not guilty. Or pay an attorney $250 to get a plea deal of the lowest possible infraction. There are zero repercussions for a cop falsely arresting you and no one cares about the truth or justice. Just pay to make it go away.
- jiggy2011 13y agoIf you did that in the UK, you would almost certainly be arrested.
- camus 13y agoand beaten by the cops in France, especially if you are not white.
- btilly 13y agoHe wonders why this is covert when all smart terrorists know it already. I'll play Devil's advocate and answer that. To the extent that the USA publicizes what it does, people in other countries around the world will get concerned and develop alternatives that are not subject to US jurisdiction. Alternatives developed for legitimate reasons by non-criminals then provide options for terrorists to use that are hard for US authorities to monitor. Let me give a specific example. Around the world, terrorists are forced to use sites like Facebook to promote their views because that is where they will find the people that they want to convince. They take precautions, but they are still forced to use the tool, and it is still easy for them to slip up and get caught. If, however, distrust of the USA had pushed the people that they want to convince to social networks based outside of the USA, then the exact same terrorists could use those networks in the exact same ways and it would be much harder for the US to capitalize on those inevitable small mistakes.
- EliRivers 13y agoI note also that there are many, many more stupid terrorists than smart terrorists. Likewise criminals.
- svantana 13y agoI agree, although the stupid ones will probably make these mistakes whether this operation is covert or not, making the point moot.
- btilly 13y agoThe existence of stupid terrorists is a nuisance in the grand scheme of things. The inspiration for the level of our efforts is fear of something on the scale of 9/11..or bigger. There are people with the funding, means, and motivation to do something like deliver a fully weaponized anthrax bomb in NYC or Washington, DC. A large portion of our intelligence efforts are devoted to making sure that they do not succeed.
- bcoates 13y agoWhat's the point of truth or beauty or knowledge when the anthrax bombs are popping all around you?