Tag: 9-11 attacks
Posted on Wed Aug 31, 2011 at 08:33:36 AM EST
Tags: electronic surveillance, 9-11 attacks (all tags)
The LA Times reports on a key legacy of the 9/11 attacks: the exponential increase in governmental spying on Americans.
Thanks to new laws and technologies, authorities track and eavesdrop on Americans as they never could before, hauling in billions of bank records, travel receipts and other information. In several cases, they have wiretapped conversations between lawyers and defendants, challenging the legal principle that attorney-client communication is inviolate.
As one law professor puts it:
"We are caught in the middle of a perfect storm in which every thought we communicate, every step we take, every transaction we enter into is captured in digital data and is subject to government collection."
One we give the Government new power, it rarely gives it back. It's important to note that this legacy was not caused by the terrorists, but by our own lawmakers in Washington who let fear drive their actions. We have not become safer, we are only less free.
(16 comments) Permalink :: Comments
