yes, for sure the law doesn't provide the protections that the people expect and the law should be changed.

We should blame the bloodsuckingwallstreetbanksters that helped fund the growth of the internet and the filthy multinationalindustrialoppressers who plot out new ways to manufacture all the devices that we acquire at absurdly low prices so that we can use the internet all the damn time.

By allowing us to communicate in new ways these criminal oppressors have opened up endless possibilities for all sorts of mischief and they should be made to pay reparations.

but maybe we should start by urging that the law be brought up to date.

It's time for all repressive governments to go.

It's not really a secret. I sometimes suspect they want people to know that our emails are accessible to them, to scare us more. But people are amazing -- for example, all those celebrities and others who email sexually explicit things to some object of their interests only to be shocked later when these turn up to be used in evidence against them and become viral videos all over the world.

It is well to know that anything uploaded to the internet, including -- perhaps even especially -- postings to sites like this as well as anything emailed goes through an electronic screening process and any word that is on their suspicious words list causes the sender to be looked at.

The American ruling class treats the 4th amendment like toilet paper. It's not just our e-mail that they spy on, it's likely also our internet browsing and phone messages. Presumably even these very CD comments are being monitored for (to them) unpatriotic views. The U.S. spends countless billions on the CIA, the NSA, the DIA and only God knows whatall other agencies. That buys a whole lot of spying.

Meanwhile, more and more government information is top secret and any exposure of stuff THEY want private is treated as high treason. (Think Bradley Manning.)

Fine. Then they already know what I think of 'em. I could really care less at this point.

And thanks to Gov. Jerry Brown for his latest foray into fascism by giving his Goon's access to the citizenry's cell phones. Nice going, Jer. What a guy!

Don't these people have anything better to do? Something useful and contributory? It seems to me that a whole lot of 'government' spends its time sticking its nose in other people's business when it should be minding its own.

Colonial era writs of assistance were indeed a major issue leading up to the 1776 American revolution. To my knowledge, they were not issued by the British Parliament. Writs of assistance were issued by British colonial magistrates (the King's judges), who almost invariably went riding forth with the raid team of red coat soldiers and tax collectors to ransack the home or business designated in the writ. It was that feature - the Magistrate who authorized the search also took active part in executing his own court order - that the colonists on the receiving end found particularly offensive.

In the declaration of independence, one of the numerous grievances addressed against King George III was "he hath erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harrass our People, and eat out their Substance." That was what writs of assistance epitomized.

It was systematic abuse of the search warrant process - with the judiciary on the inside, an integral part of those abuses - that caused the Fourth Amendment to become part of the US constitution's Bill of Rights. Today, retrievable digital communications archives make up part of the "houses, papers and effects" that are supposed to be secure from unreasonable seizure by the government.

As Heather Brooke points out, we've come full circle. The short-circuited section 2703 mechanism for getting rubber stamped approval order authority to rummage through email messages has its historic parallels. So, too, do those Special Ops "night raids" that the Afghan civilian population keep complaining bitterly about.

Bill from Saginaw

When I first moved to Brussels I would listen to all the french conversations around me.

They all sounded so sophisticated , so exotic. Surely they must be discussing Sartre and Camus and Vichy.

I was so disaapointed when I became fluent and heard nothing but chatter about grocery lists , their kids and griping about the weather and their boss.

I pity the people who have to look at emails. ~lol

The premise that secrecy is important to the people's defense against the elites' class war aggression grotesquely complicates the people's agenda, both ethically and logistically.

It's obvious that full openness in communication is most clear, simple, powerful and ethical. If you are angered or embarassed that a stranger reads your communications, it's only because you were taught to be so. You were taught that life is a perpetual contest for zero-sum influence/advantage.

You are free to re-teach yourself that life is a wonderful nirvana, and that if anyone eavesdrops, it isn't going to hurt you. In such a world, people won't bother with destructive pursuits such as exploiting information for zero-sum gain. You do want to support such a world, right?

Now this proposal may be easily exploited by the elites, those who see the world not as a wonderful nirvana but as a ring for perpetual gladiator battle. And so, while keeping hold on the vision of nirvana, you choose a different approach to combat the elite threat.

To do so you may have to choose yourself to give up most if not all of the opiates, trappings, and lies our elite oppressors have pushed on us to confuse, distract and enslave us.

Openness in information/knowledge has huge potential. We don't want to inadvertently support the culture of secrecy, scarcity, 'intellectual property', or the class warfare that goes hand-in-hand with all that. Invite yourself to explore the potential of opening all information channels to the public domain, and enjoy the magnificent beauty of a fully open information space. Watch the thug elites run frantically from this idea.

Here's the deal. Reality.

You think evil people, people who want to kill us , ( and there are such people, and no , not because of "payback" , for their own reasons,) are going to plan things in a public place where everyone can over hear?

Of course you need to use subterfuge.

And it's just like in a sports game, you don;t tell your opponent your game plan. If you do you may as well not have one.

I do recall an article posted here many months ago that detailed an anaysis of the use of the Patriot Act which demonstrated that people's privacy of communication wasn't being infringed. That it had been used very few times.

It's tresspassing, pure and simple.

When someone gains access to YOUR computer without your permission, they are tresspassing. It is your property and no one has a right to go there without your permission. No one.

Right now, I have been fighting something that calls itself "HP Agent". It repetedly trashes my computer. Maybe it is a government thing (but what does the goverment have against old ladies). I suspect it is a corporate thing. They are trying to "target me" with ads they consider I would be interested in. NOT

This "thing" expects me to "download" important files daily! Not.

If anyone has any ideas about getting rid of these intruders, please let me know.

My best idea has been to run the DOS command, CHKDSK /f

It does work but they keep coming back. And they have no right to be here..

Obama. If you and your corporate asshole friends are reading this. Fuck You!

Of course it's unacceptable in the digital age. But many Americans and all American officials are incredibly immune to intelligence as they bandy about their horseshit, brain-dead, mind-controlled concept of 'patriotism'.
Remember 'patriotism is the last refuge to which the scoundrel clings.' - Bob Dylan.

At any rate, not to worry darling, just wait till the U.S. fascist government gets a face-full of what we've got up our digital sleeves... They'll wish to Christ they'd never fucked with us.