Hopefully in 20 years or so he will be compared with Daniel Ellsberg as a leaker who informed the American public about government abuse of power.

It's being reported that Snowden left Hong Kong ahead of the arrest warrant. Moscow might be his next stop.

So, what standards do you insist upon for classification of government actions?

So, what standards do you insist upon for classification of government actions? -- Radwaste at June 23, 2013 8:09 AM

I want the government's action to be bound within the enumerated powers of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

There is a reason the Fourth Amendment was written to require specificity in a search warrant. The Brits would issue general warrants (Writ of assistance) that could be used to search anyone and their possessions on law enforcement's whim.

So now you have the NSA collecting everybody's phone records.

Let's say you have a son with a large group of friends. Your Little Joey goes to a party at Amy's house, and Little Johnny is also there. No big deal, right. Then Joey goes to a party Fred's house Little Johnny is also there. Then Little Johnny comes as an included guest to your house when your Joey throws a party.

The thing none of you know is that he is making regular visits to a mid-level drug dealer the next town over. But you child, according to the metadata, is consorting with a drug dealer.

Then Joey says in an e-mail "I really enjoyed the party at Amy's. But her pots are always empty."

Is he a user or dealer? Or a victim of coincidence? And would that be enough to bring in Joey to have a little talk?

The problem is that could be very easily done under the system as it is evolving.

I want the government's action to be bound within the enumerated powers of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Amen. Let's get our house in order instead of trying to persecute the man who pointed out the problems. Although that is certainly a lot easier.

Remember "They hate us for our freedoms" ??? Well, maybe when those freedoms are all gone, they won't hate us anymore.

Unbound by the Constitution . . .

"For secretive surveillance court, rare scrutiny in wake of NSA leaks"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/for-secretive-surveillance-court-rare-scrutiny-in-wake-of-nsa-leaks/2013/06/22/df9eaae6-d9fa-11e2-a016-92547bf094cc_story.html

A printer ready version of the above so you don't have to click new pages like a fiend . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/for-secretive-surveillance-court-rare-scrutiny-in-wake-of-nsa-leaks/2013/06/22/df9eaae6-d9fa-11e2-a016-92547bf094cc_print.html

As an American, I find it embarrassing that a guy who exposed abuses of my privacy and freedom has no choice but to seek protection from China, Cuba, Russia, and Venezuela.

It makes perfect sense for Snowden to seek protection from one of those countries since those countries would never think of abusing the privacy and freedom of their citizens. North Korea would have been another excellent choice.

The printer-ready version is not to avoid the ads, but to avoid the loading of each page delay which ruins the reading experience, and not everyone has broadband.

The N.Y. Times and L.A. Times at least let you put the story in a readable form as one page with all the normal ads.

It's important to help papers pay for their content by putting in the version with all the ads.

And its important for papers to wake up to the fact that I dont want to wait for 20 different pages to load to read on article.

They could just as easily make each article one page and load ads the whole way down rather than just the 3-5 on every page. Hell they could probably make more money on the longer articles with upwards of 50 ad links

"I want the government's action to be bound within the enumerated powers of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights."

Okay, I get that.

Now, Achmed comes over here through a thoroughly porous border, and engages in completely innocent activity as he gathers friends for an attack at LAX. Then, the threshold is breached - illegal activity occurs at the point firearms are purchased from businesses and individuals by "straw men" and carried into California. They drive into the terminal in a tour bus, which has a hundred one-pound cans of Bullseye™ powder, collected over a four-month period, in the luggage compartment connected to ten minutes of cannon fuse.

How do you stop him?

Keep in mind that the TSA can't do it, never could.

Rights don't make the problem go away. Of course, a bit of enlightenment in foreign policy would work...

How do you stop him? -- Radwaste at June 24, 2013 2:33 AM

Do some real investigation and get a reason to suspect Achmed -- some probable cause. Then go to a judge and get a specific warrant to tap his phones and/or search based on probable cause.

As it stands now, all the collection of data does is let us look afterward for a clue. How would knowing that Achmed met up with and is talking to fellow Muslims give any more clue than anything else?

<sarcasm>But we'll know you were making phone calls to your mistress while you were out on a date with your wife. Oh, she's not your mistress but a family friend that is having a rough time? We believe that. No, really. The fact that your phone tracked to No-Tell Motel at the same time as hers doesn't mean anything.</sarcasm>

No problem, we won't tell anyone as long as you vote this way... If someone had told me my country would be doing this when I was young, I would not have believed him. You will try in vain to tell me our government will not stoop to this level.

"Do some real investigation and get a reason to suspect Achmed -- some probable cause."

Wow!

What is "real investigation"?