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> If the US government made one request to stop a terrorist plot that they had some specific knowledge of, that would be okay in my eyes.

How can we tell that they just didn't straight up lie about whether the one request was to stop a terrorist plot, and not to gather intel on political foes or ex girlfriends? With no oversight and no one allowed to advocate for the rights of the individuals under surveillance, I am still not okay with one request to which they claim is stop a terrorist plot that they claim to have specific knowledge of, because there's no checks and balances to prevent them from simply lying.




We can't. GP counters "National security is a sham […]" by positing that an acceptable use case exists, not that we have been empowered to identify it.


A NSL doesn’t allow the government to ask for the contents of a DM. They would need a warrant for that, providing some checks and balances.


Right because the judicial branch is free of corruption and doesn’t just rubber stamp warrants.


These statements are both false.


You are wrong, go read the EFF FAQ:

https://www.eff.org/issues/national-security-letters/

NSL are only for "metadata" not user content. Govt can get a list of the calls you made, but not what your said. They can get IP addresses, but not the email body.

I don't support NSLs (4th amendment + unconstitutional gag order), but a lot of the opposition is based in hysterical ignorance. If you are going to get worked up about it, do yourself a favor and at least understand what they are.

Can the FBI obtain content—like e-mails or the content of phone calls—with an NSL?

Not legally. While each type of NSL allows the FBI to obtain a different type of information, that information is limited to records—such as “subscriber information and toll billing records information” from telephone companies.


Okay, but that's sort of irrelevant, because the metadata of the DMs is still invasive. General Michael Hayden famously said, "We kill people based on metadata."




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