So Badtux and I have been talking in comments about this mess, and shaking our heads over it, and then he goes and writes this.

He’s right, that is the only conceivable reason to collect all of that meta data. There is too much to process for patterns of “terrorist activity”, since they obviously don’t know what they are looking for, and if they have an individual that they are targeting as a possible terrorist, then they could get all of the data related to that individual without hoovering up the rest of the country.

This is about targeting ‘enemies of the state’, not about terrorism.

Then, if you still aren’t concerned, why not drop by Digby’s for a reminder that the real threat may be the contractors, not the government.

One of the disturbing things that Snowden said in his Greenwald interview was that he had access to everything. He worked for a contractor, not the government and he had access to EVERYTHING?!

I had the best security clearance that the government hands out. Based on that clearance I could access everything … except the “right to know” granted by the clearance has to be matched to a “need to know”. I went to NSA headquarters for a specific purpose, and I only had access to areas associated with that purpose. I would have loved to compare notes with the guys working on my specialty at NSA, but that wasn’t the reason I was sent there, so that was not even remotely possible. NSA was strictly compartmentalized. Working in the field was a friendlier environment.

If you are a media person, you can forget about having ‘confidential sources’, the meta data tells all. If you know any drug dealers, they’ll explain how you beat the system.

Having noticed that a number of Congresscritters seem to woefully uninformed on these matters I thought I would quote the relevant portions of the US Constitution.

The US Constitution defines “treason” in Article III, Section 3:

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.

The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted.

Congress doesn’t get to redefine it without a Constitutional amendment. The reason is simple – the people who wrote the Constitution had deal with a treason law at a time when losing your head over a beautiful queen was not a metaphor.

Then there is the second bit the Congresscritters are having real problems with – Fourth Amendment which says:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

There has been a suggestion that because things like e-mail are sent through a separate entity, you have no expectation of privacy. I’m sorry, but that is just ignorant. You need a password to access your e-mail account, as well as many other services on the Internet. The requirement for a password is a rather obvious indication that such things are private.