
A Disappointing Ruling on National Security Letters, but Not the Last Word - DiabloD3
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/04/disappointing-ruling-national-security-letters-not-last-word
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StanislavPetrov
This ruling is unfortunately another example of how our courts and our system
of checks of balances has totally failed. The idea that the FBI can eliminate
your 1st Amendment rights by issuing you a letter flies in the face of
everything that a free society is based on.

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dmix
I'm curious why the technology industry in the only one pushing back on this?
This must be affecting other industries too. Or are we just the only ones who
give a shit?

The total lack of push-back from the banking/finance sector is what I find
interesting, they have no shortage of lawyers. I get the impression that
nobody ever expected them to _not_ be totally submissive to gov requests.

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lukeadams
I would assume it comes into contact with it more..? The technology industry
is behind telecom infrastructure, consumer facing communications, etc; all of
which seem like better targets than banks or the financial industry.

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chrismcb
Wait, did I miss something? Did Congress successfully amend the Constitution?
Because if something was unconstitutional before, how did it become
conditionally just by a law being passed?

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vkou
The Constitution consists of the original document, the amendments, and over
two centuries of legal interpretation of said documents.

Subtract said legal interpretation, and you get absolute non-sense.

Constitutionality has been something argued by judges and lawyers before the
ink had time to dry.

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drcube
Why don't more people just ignore the gag orders? I would. I understand most
people won't, but there certainly should be more than one guy who illegally
revealed his NSL in the 15 years or so since they began.

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bmelton
Because people have things to lose, and because the justice system doesn't
always work as expected. Being proverbially gagged by the federal government
violates everything I believe in America, but that revulsion doesn't
necessarily mean that I'm willing to do significant prison time to object to.

There are people that are that brave, and their actions are indeed
commendable, but many people have jobs, families, friends and social status
that they'd probably like to keep intact moreso than their instinct to "stick
up for what's right".

