do you think the government has the right to listen in on everyone's phone conversation?
439123
Absolutely not.  Contrary to what Mr. Bush claims, I don't think that the Authorization for the Use of Force gave him the power to listen to conversations without evidence.  It's a constitutional right that we should be secure in our property and effects, and the government can NOT remove that right without due process (i.e. a warrant).  The day that we let him take that power, we can also say goodbye to free speech.
545234
Probley,but the Gov.over rides everybody and everything.The FBI right now is eve droping on AT&T and BellSouth and other phone companys customers like you. Nothing is private or free in this country we all answer to somebody.It is another way for them to catch drug dealers and tearest. our social security number is out mark of the beast With it,the law knows what you done sence the day you were born.
230997
i believe in certain situations it would be permissable. for example, if what somebody is doing affects another person or group in a negative way then the government should be allowed to step in. the government works for us as a whole, not each individual person. we are allowed certain freedoms and to do most things the way we want to but there are limits on everything. if protecting society by limiting one person's freedoms is the best plan of action then the government should have every right to do so
761205
in news stories of columbine type massacres they have pointed out how the people were said to have communicated over the Internet.  I hardly see how it would be possible but if the Bushies want to further restrict free speech like in the phone taps they'll figure out a way to do it.  \n\nI can see how you might monitor suspicious subjects but with the mass number of communications over the net don't see how you could ever obtain any useful info.  I can email my uncle that lives across town through a server in Asia, ya know what I mean.
244736
definitely no. i believe that politicians have every right to pass and execute a law that protects the interests of their people for their people only, even in a very authoritarian way. it is one way of being nationalistic.\nin an emergency in an airplane, who are you going to put an oxygen mask on first: yourself or your child? in this case, who do you serve first... citizens of your country or foreigners?
988120
You're right on the money! And those bitching about cell phone tapping should stop and think. Those damn things broadcast over a block of radio frequencies just like walkie-talkies. Anyone with a few bucks and a desire to eavesdrop can buy a scanner and listen in. Marketeers only want your money. The CIA could care less what your wife wants you to bring home from the grocery store after work, but scam artists may be interested in your intimate chat, and they don't need any warrant to listen in.
656193
Probably.  Some people just get shy when they talk on the phone.  It's nothing to worry about.
1086330
The governments best kept but talked about secret is the NSA.It has always had the right to tap phone calls of the American people.Your teacher was wrong in not explaining this further to you if she should have even mentioned this at all in a classroom setting that was not about civics.The NSA does not sit around listening to everyday people talking about their lives.It is used only in suspected terrorism or other illegal activity.Even if they did just randomly listened in I wouldn't care if they wanted to hear me vent to a friend about my husband or anything else if it meant it could stop another attack like 9/11.People really need to start looking at the 'big picture'.\nAgain I am sorry your teacher felt it was her duty to say this without giving your class more information and knowledge about the situation.
155435
The official answer is that the people of the USA own the radio waves, not Howard's station.   So therefore the U.S. government, allegedly acting on our behalf, can regulate what he says.   \n\nI think that's stupid, but apparently I'm in the minority - a lot of people are afraid their kids might turn on the radio and hear what he's saying (I say parents need to be responsible for that, not the nanny state!)
644347
I think it's great when used properly, everyone should be able to have his or her own voice on everything.  Theirs nothing wrong with freedom of speach.\n\nBut it does piss me off when some people try to label other things, such as harassment, as freedom of speech.
398330
Well, I don't worry about it. What you said is true, about having nothing to hide. I really don't like the idea about my privacy being invavded, but look at it this way. They are not just going to listen in for no reason. If you are acting suspicious, such as calling different countries frequently, and you are not associated with any kind of place that should be calling different coutries, then you would probably be a suspect. Or say, you are a suspected terrorist. I have no problem with things like that. They won't listen unless they have a reason. And for that I am thankful, because they are trying to better protect me and my family.
1137551
They have the right to say what they want. But everyone else has the right to think they are morons and not listen to them anymore. Don't play with fire if you don't want to get burned.
586835
no, that is an understanding, if you (not you personally, figure of speech) feel the need to not be known, then a free service is not for you. If you mail a letter, the USPS, and everyone who sees it knows your name and address, if you make a phone call, your info is captured, every form of communications, you would have to live in a cave under a rock to not be availiable. It is one of the things we tolerate for our freedom
962050
If one party in the conversation knows that they are being recorded, then yes.\n\nMeaning that if you are talking to someone on the phone and record it, it is legal.\n\nHowever, if you pick up an extension and record two other people talking and neither one knows that they are being recorded, then that's illegal.\n\nThe exception is if law enforcement is doing the recording of course, with permission of the courts.
980456
Well that's a good idea it makes sense. That is the problem government and anything that makes sense doesn't go together.\nAnd plus your not really saying any thing new that is the basics of influencing speech. And all though it will work on most people it doesn't work in government. Government listens to one thing and one thing only POWER! if you have it they will listen if you don't they don't care how you say help me! Please do not let me discourage \nyou. Your heart and mind are in the right place. You are thinking, that is a beautiful thing in a world of ignorance.
230747
I think that the answer to your question lies with where you stand on the subject for which the whistle has been blown.  Some things such as National Security Measures that can effect us all sometimes come very close to treason, by the simple fact that it should never have been reported in the first place.  Sometimes as in the case of the domestic spying issue, it has caused more ripples in our country, yet only international calls have been effected and those have always been between questionable persons.  We as the public will never know how many lives here and abroad this may have saved and yet we act as if we have all had all our calls listened to.  I have not myself made an International Call for several years and it was always through my employer for business purposes.  Most calls of this nature would not be subject to scrutiny by our government unless one party or the other was suspect of illegal activity.  Making the fact that this has been policy has only helped the terrorists by knowing our strategy and one of the weapons we were using against them.  That damage is what is not repairable, our government will eventually make our citizens understand this was not used against the public at large.
591302
I could care less. I have nothing to hide. And all these paranoid whiners going on and on about the right to privacy, grow up. If tapping phones stops even one terrorist, then it succeeded.