FBI remotely installs spyware to trace bomb threat

TalkBack 82 of 82:

« Previous

• Thread View
• Flat View

RE: FBI remotely installs spyware to trace bomb threat

With due respect to individual opinion, I always take serious issue with undue paranoia about government snooping.

First, my background may be pertinent to a couple of my fairly well informed counter-opinions:

... I'm a military retiree with mentionable association to several intelligence agencies for the better part of 20 years.

... I have worked for local law enforcement for the past 14 years.

My counterpoints:

1. Does anyone know how hard is STILL is to get a warrant or court order?

2. Most of what we hear on the "news" about government snooping is nearly 100% unsubstantiated. Mostly news is just questions, the real answers to which are almost never reported, and which are primarily designed to compete for ratings and sell commercial airtime.

3. Most people that I know personally are NOT overly concerned about government invasion of their privacy.

4. International "wiretapping" (i.e., NSA) is exactly that; international. Not domestic (by design). That's how we could have prevented Pearl Harbor, Kobar Towers, Embassy bombings, WTC 1993, Oklahoma City, USS Cole, and 9/11, just to name a very few. All countries who can also snoop on us, are snooping on us. We are not our worst enemy. (Why are we so afraid of each other??? It's all just politics, or news-for-profit.)

5. Most intelligence and law enforcement agencies are either under-staffed or over-tasked with useless information and leads that go nowhere. They don't need to create any more pointless work for themselves (i.e., snooping on millions of harmless people).

6. Last, but not least: 370 million people in the United States, and only a few hundred thousand government "agents" to snoop in our email and shopping habits? THAT IS AMAZINGLY PREPOSTEROUS!! It is self-pretentious or (delusional?) for a typical law-abiding citizen to think that the government (a) is specifically interested in him or her, and (b) actually has the time and resources to investigate whatever incredibly coincidental interest they may have in you or me.

In summary: IT experts in particular should know how impossible it is to snoop millions of routers, email servers and compartmentalized databases throughout America. We should take some responsibility for REDUCING hysterical paranoia-at-large. Overstating concern is just as dangerous, expensive, and counter-productive, as understating it. In my humble opinion.

JH
Law Enforcement IS Manager
MSgt, USAF (Retired)

Posted by: jandros   Posted on: 09/20/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

Alert moderator to an offensive message

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

SponsoredWhite Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads

• Five Steps to Determine When to Virtualize YourServers VMware Server virtualization isn't just for big companies. Entry-level ... Download Now
• Evaluating Price/Performance of VMware ESX Server on Dell PowerEdge Servers Dell This paper examines the price/performance advantage that enterprises can ... Download Now
• Why Isn't Server Virtualization Saving Us More? A Few Small Changes May Dramatically Increase Your Efficiency VMware Companies have rapidly adopted server virtualization over the past few ... Download Now