Washington’s Blog
November 18, 2013
Bill Clinton said (via Agence France-Presse):
“The question is when, if ever, is the government justified in going beyond the patterns to listen to telephone calls, read emails, read text messages, and who’s supposed to decide that?”
***
The fact that Snowden was able to receive a top-secret security clearance despite having only been a contractor for several months “made me think that we are on the verge of having the worst of all worlds: We’ll have no security and no privacy” ….
He’s right. Top security experts say that mass spying interferes with U.S. counter-terror efforts (more here and here) and harms web security.
And it is totally destroying our privacy.
Clinton isn’t the only former president to slam mass surveillance. Jimmy Carter said that NSA spying on Americans meant that “America has no functioning democracy”. And Clinton’s VP – Al Gore – says it constitutes “crimes against the Constitution of the United States”.
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