
Congress Needs to End Warrantless Spying, Not Make It Permanent - DiabloD3
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/06/congress-needs-end-warrantless-spying-not-make-it-permanent
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pmoriarty
That's step one. Step two is to make warrants more than just a rubber stamp.
Step three is to make law enforcement, prosecutors and judges less incestuous.
Step four is to bring more accountability to the law enforcement and judicial
systems. Maybe sometime down the line we'd get something that resembles
justice.

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kartan
> Maybe sometime down the line we'd get something that resembles justice.

It will be welcome.

"The defendant enters a plea to the charges brought by the U.S. Attorney at a
court hearing known as arraignment. More than 90 percent of defendants plead
guilty rather than go to trial."

* [http://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/types-cases/cri...](http://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/types-cases/criminal-cases)

"In 2013, while 8 percent of all federal criminal charges were dismissed
(either because of a mistake in fact or law or because the defendant had
decided to cooperate), more than 97 percent of the remainder were resolved
through plea bargains, and fewer than 3 percent went to trial. The plea
bargains largely determined the sentences imposed."

"[...] the prosecutor-dictated plea bargain system, by creating such
inordinate pressures to enter into plea bargains, appears to have led a
significant number of defendants to plead guilty to crimes they never actually
committed."

* [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2014/11/20/why-innocent-peop...](http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2014/11/20/why-innocent-people-plead-guilty/)

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thedatamonger
Lots of variations but Plato's version resonates with me. "The penalty good
men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." ...
We're at 18 signatures now ... let's get a few more...

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pmoriarty
It's much more complicated than simple indifference. The US has a horrible
education system and mass media. Self-interest, anti-intellectualism,
paranoia, and xenophobia run rampant. Most people lack basic knowledge of
American history, never mind much knowledge of the rest of the world's
history.

As a result, even when there is political involvement, it often stems from
ignorance and fear, and is easily manipulated by the politicians and the
media.

~~~
yuhong
Also, the NSA is funded by government debt. One of the reasons we got off the
gold standard was government spending in the first place.

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calafrax
That would be nice but it is like asking a heroin junkie really nicely to stop
getting high and then leaving them sitting there with a needle in their hand.

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imploder
This is the new war on drugs. And it's not going away until something worse
replaces it.

Something like an implanted thought-veto-filter, that replaces seven ounces of
your brain with nanotechnology to govern approved thoughts (...or detonate a
subcranial kill squib).

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pasbesoin
They also need to make it _fully_ and permanently accountable.

When East Germany fell and the Stasi archives first fell open and then were
deliberately opened?

The people spying now need to know that, one day -- preferably not too far
distant -- every one of their actions will be public record. And that they,
and their descendants (by public declamation if not law) will be held
accountable.

Transparency, when exercised, needs to work in both directions.

