Your reference to Slashdot on 9/11 gave me a bout of nostalgia for all the time I spent on that site as a teenager, and led me to checkout archive.org's Slashdo

Your reference to Slashdot on 9/11 gave me a bout of nostalgia for all the time I spent on that site as a teenager, and led me to checkout archive.org's Slashdot capture from that date. For some reason it doesn't exist, the closest I can get is 9/14. "Net taps without warrants"[1] was on the front page (already). Very interesting to look back and see the commentary and the way this was received 12 years ago(!) in light of all the NSA/Snowden stuff that's been going on lately. Some highlights: "Do we really have any reason to believe that the government is trying to create a giant evil spy machine to watch their own people as opposed to the terrorists? I tend to be more or less trusting of the government, but that's just me." "This bill is quite limited in its scope, allowing only 48 hours to tap without approval and only for immediate threats to "National Security." Many civil liberties are restricted during threats to "National Security." Ever heard of martial law and curfews?" "Anything that is truely our rights in a constitutional sense will be protected by the supreme court. The congress will push, the courts will push back, and life wil lgo on as it has in the US. I get the feeling a significant cross section of slashdot just likes to run around hystericly like the sky is falling." "What's so hard about getting a warrant? [..] Or maybe you keep federal courthouses staffed with at least one judge with a security clearance 24x7, if its so important. " [1] http://web.archive.org/web/20010914224344/http://slashdot.org/yro/01/09/14/211241.shtml http://web.archive.org/web/20010914224344/http://slashdot.or...