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> “The government says, ‘We’re not targeting U.S. persons,’ ” said Gregory T. Nojeim And again, the foreigners' right to protection of their privacy is not eve

> “The government says, ‘We’re not targeting U.S. persons,’ ” said Gregory T. Nojeim And again, the foreigners' right to protection of their privacy is not even up for discussion. I'm tempted to say this is un-american. But thinking it over, it seems to actually have become the new "american". In any case, this kind of attitude can not come from nation that sees itself as "the best country in the world".

Sagat 13y ago
Americans believe their country has been chosen by God: ordained by divine powers to be the leader of the world. So it's not surprising that they view the rights of foreigners with contempt or at the very least lack of interest. "Un-american" supposedly means against freedom (and a range of other positive buzzwords) which is pretty hilarious given their behavior.
- toyg 13y ago
  Some Americans. I do believe some actually know they've just been lucky enough to get a fairly resilient constitutional framework designed in an era of Enlightenment, and then smart enough to be on the right side of history during the three major conflicts that shaped the last century.
  - JshWright 13y ago
    Don't overlook geography. The fact that we have easy access to both major world oceans is also a _huge_ part of why we have been successful as a nation. It greatly simplifies both international trade and naval power projection. We would have been on the winning side of those conflicts no matter which side we chose.
mpyne 13y ago
Indeed, even Sen. Wyden says as much: “Our intelligence agencies need the authority to target the communications of foreigners, but for government agencies to deliberately read the e-mails or listen to the phone calls of individual Americans, the Constitution requires a warrant.” However such behavior is at least consistent with traditional American 'protections' on foreign traffic. Even before there was an NSA, there was a government office reading Western Union telegrams being transmitted internationally. This behavior is even consistent with the behavior of even Germany, which has a similar concept of foreign surveillance vs. domestic.

Sagat 13y ago

Americans believe their country has been chosen by God: ordained by divine powers to be the leader of the world. So it's not surprising that they view the rights of foreigners with contempt or at the very least lack of interest. "Un-american" supposedly means against freedom (and a range of other positive buzzwords) which is pretty hilarious given their behavior.

toyg 13y ago
Some Americans. I do believe some actually know they've just been lucky enough to get a fairly resilient constitutional framework designed in an era of Enlightenment, and then smart enough to be on the right side of history during the three major conflicts that shaped the last century.
- JshWright 13y ago
  Don't overlook geography. The fact that we have easy access to both major world oceans is also a _huge_ part of why we have been successful as a nation. It greatly simplifies both international trade and naval power projection. We would have been on the winning side of those conflicts no matter which side we chose.

mpyne 13y ago

Indeed, even Sen. Wyden says as much: “Our intelligence agencies need the authority to target the communications of foreigners, but for government agencies to deliberately read the e-mails or listen to the phone calls of individual Americans, the Constitution requires a warrant.” However such behavior is at least consistent with traditional American 'protections' on foreign traffic. Even before there was an NSA, there was a government office reading Western Union telegrams being transmitted internationally. This behavior is even consistent with the behavior of even Germany, which has a similar concept of foreign surveillance vs. domestic.