on eavesdropping
There has been a mess of stories coming out of the States these past few days about Bush and his supposed authorization of the NSA to illegally spy on people. The basic idea is that he authorized wiretaps and other eavesdropping methods on people in America, which would normally require court approval in the form of a warrant. Democrats and Republicans alike are calling for a probe, which is supposed to happen early next year.
Almost on the same day we get this story about a kid from the University of Massachussets getting visited by federal agents, at his parents' house, because he borrowed a copy of Mao Tse-Tung's "Little Red Book". He used it to write a paper on Communism. It's these kinds of stories, I suppose, that made the senate block an extension of the Patriot Act.
(Edit: Or maybe that didn't happen, says Boing Boing.)
Up here in Canada, we don't have a Patriot Act. But some are arguing that our anti-terrorism legislation could allow the Canadian Security Establishment to perform the same types of (formerly?) illegal activities.
Almost on the same day we get this story about a kid from the University of Massachussets getting visited by federal agents, at his parents' house, because he borrowed a copy of Mao Tse-Tung's "Little Red Book". He used it to write a paper on Communism. It's these kinds of stories, I suppose, that made the senate block an extension of the Patriot Act.
(Edit: Or maybe that didn't happen, says Boing Boing.)
Up here in Canada, we don't have a Patriot Act. But some are arguing that our anti-terrorism legislation could allow the Canadian Security Establishment to perform the same types of (formerly?) illegal activities.
