Not so Patriotic Act

Hellsangel wrote:There is no such thing as unbiased profiling. El Al security is a very good example.

Marathadi-Saamiyaar wrote:

Hellsangel wrote:There is no such thing as unbiased profiling. El Al security is a very good example.

Profiling in itself is sort of sampling based on certain criteria that results in a bias.  

Let us do one thing. Look at all the suspects in those "terror acts" which were supposedly "prevented" and do a stat analysis. "based" on that unbiased statistical analysis they can implement an "unbiased" profiling technique...

I am all for that bcz I am pretty sure who were likely to have been the suspects and who will be unbiasedly profiled.

Section 215 broadened the exception to warrant requirements dramatically, allowing the government to seize from anyone "any tangible things" -- that is, any data, including emails, financial records and travel itineraries -- arguably relevant to a terrorism investigation, regardless of whether the target is a suspected terrorist.

NSA warrantless access to the data of Americans communicating with overseas "targets" as long as the conversations allegedly dealt with "foreign intelligence information." In the PRISM surveillance program, the government insists that its algorithms can filter out the data of U.S. citizens not related to "foreign intelligence information" with 51 percent accuracy -- but this imprecise assurance is not enough to protect Fourth Amendment values.

Section 411 allows the government to deport noncitizens who associate with terrorists, even unknowingly. And Section 412 allows the attorney general to detain foreigners if he has "reasonable grounds to believe" that they threaten national security.
This essentially imposes guilt by association, even if you're not aware that you're associating with terrorists. And it threatens the liberty of both citizens and foreigners in an age when any international call or email might involve someone connected to terrorism through six degrees of separation.

Hellsangel wrote:Are you afraid of unknowingly hobnobbing with terrorists, CD?

confuzzled dude wrote:Twelve years after the Patriot Act was passed, we've learned that cutting constitutional corners is both unnecessary and counterproductive. By ensuring that the courts and Congress review all requests for mass surveillance, foreign and domestic, these amendments could cure the defects of the Patriot Act while preserving its benefits. In other words, Congress can, like the blob machine, protect privacy and security at the same time.

-> Secret court, secret search and secret foreign intelligence surveillance! not sure one can surely defend or refute its usefulness; However, for common man it appears as an overreaction by American law makers. One can only hope the affects of overdose of pseudo-patriotic drugs wore off after dozen years and common sense prevails.