In secret, Fisa court contradicted US supreme court on constitutional rights | Yochai Benkler | Comment is free | theguardian.com

Posted by LetsShrug 10 years, 7 months ago to Government
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"The second component of the FISC argument was that "grouping together a large number of individuals", no single one of whom has "a fourth amendment interest", "cannot result in a fourth amendment interest springing into existence ex nihilo"."
Um....say what????

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  • Posted by $ johnrobert2 10 years, 7 months ago
    Lawyer talk. Punt to khalling. Ex nihilo translates from nothing. FISC is basically saying even in a large grouping of individuals, if no one has a 4th amendment interest, there is not a 4th amendment cause to be found because the requirement for 4th amendment protections cannot spring from nothing. The question now arises, How can you so group individuals so that a group with no 4th amendment interest exists? The conglomeration of such a group would entail such a massive data collection and sorting process as to warrant the effort to be a wasteful exercise in terms of money and manpower.

    Oh, I forgot we are dealing with a money flush, power grabbing bunch of tin pot dictators whose sole aim is to render into slavery and serfdom all those who are not part of their coterie.
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  • Posted by LetsShrug 10 years, 7 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I actually understood what they were saying...I just couldn't believe WHAT they were saying...that individual rights don't count if it's a whole hell of lot of them, a collective, being surveilled. I also think there was a hint of, 'if we're not really looking for anything and they haven't done anything wrong then there's no law being broken'. Amazing twist on rationalizing.
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