There's my monthly reminder to donate to EFF! (Do it too, you even get stickers and a nice membership card that makes you feels like you are important!)
I wish they would just get rid of the FISC. It only serves to create an illusion that the executive is being checked by the legislative branch. Basically, it's a loophole in the Constitution. I understand that our government doesn't give a shit about the Constitution so let's just stop pretending.
The FISC is a great example of why separation of powers is so important. The FISC was created as a check on the foreign surveillance powers of the executive, which are not limited by the Constitution. As a consequence, it imbued executive action with the imprimatur of the judiciary, making it easy for the executive to blur the lines between Constitutional foreign surveillance and potentially Unconstitutional domestic surveillance.
When people call for giving foreign terrorists criminal trials in domestic criminal courts, think about FISC. When you try to force the judiciary to butt its nose into the executive's business, you undermine the judiciary.
There's a fine line between critiquing and trolling.
> I wish they would just get rid of the FISC. It only serves to create an illusion that the executive is being checked by the legislative branch. Basically, it's a loophole in the Constitution.
This bit here is a good start of a conversation. I could ask you about more detail, references, what people could do to diminish The Bad Thing, a call-to-action could ensue... but...
> I understand that our government doesn't give a shit about the Constitution so let's just stop pretending.
... this part invalidates every good point you might have had by saying that no, what has been said is a blasé comment made on an internet forum.
this part invalidates every good point you might have had
Why should it invalidate the rest? If this were a different topic that would have been called out as a tone argument. Focus on the content, not the form.
Also, can you provide reliable sources that the executive branch observes the Constitution with the same reverence as other Americans? Because it sure seems like they are contorting it into every possible shape they can.
Because of the polarization of American politics, the focus has moved away from progressing the country forward and more about scraping back any and all losses from one's political opponents.
It's very much like sports, and using self-serving interpretations of laws is not unlike a professional athlete taking a questionable-but-not-officially-outlawed performance-enhancing drug[1]. They're playing the game with the assumption that if they don't someone else will get ahead.
The only fair thing to do is to outlaw the (political equivalent of) their PED so they're allowed and able to play by the rules.
I think if you can manage to comment on the rampant unconstitutional behavior that has been free and unpunished for decades, from torture and indefinite detainment to secret courts allowing the NSA to go ahead with bulk collection in the past, there is something very wrong with you.
I think it's vitally important for people to see what their government is truly doing and these pretend courts obfuscate that so they should be eliminated so that people can truly see how their government doesn't give a shit about their Constitution and do something about it. Better?
The writing is on the wall. If your threat model includes government agencies, it is only prudent to assume that all commercial providers of encrypted communications are or will soon be compromised, and conduct operations as such.
EFF may actually do more good by funding FOSS alternatives to commercial solutions than by funding lawyers.
