[Cryptography] Bamford: Over Eight Years, President, Barack Obama Has Created the Most Intrusive Surveillance Apparatus in, the World. To What End?

Bob Wilson rwilson at wisc.edu
Fri Sep 30 13:38:47 EDT 2016


> I honestly suspect that this was not Obama's doing except in the context of
> omission.
> The machinery was authorized by congress and then agencies moved into all
> manner
> of activities not specifically prohibited by law and worse specifically
> allowed by
> changed to regulation that have the force of law again by inaction of
> congress.
>
> Look harder at legislative bodies this next election and more.
> Say no to lazy legislation that is incomplete and depends on regulations
> crafted
> by officials we do not elect and in the absence of disapproval is
> automatically approved.
>
> Of interest the ballot is not encrypted and we should know who
> we vote for.
I can't say I like decisions being made by unknowns, but I also doubt 
that expecting Congress or state legislatures to decide on the details 
would be an improvement. In both Congress and the state houses we see 
concentrations of people who think gut feelings combined with polling 
data of questionable accuracy are the way to make decisions, ignoring or 
even reacting specifically against any "facts" I would like to see them 
considering. So I think we may be much better off with legislation that 
includes blanks, to be filled in by people who at least specialize in 
the subject. Is that being done perfectly, no, but it is certainly being 
done better than in my state's legislature or in Congressional floor 
actions. (And when decisions appear to be made by our representatives 
they are usually really crafted by those representative's staff or by 
Congressional or legislative support staff, just as unknown, with little 
involvement by the representatives themselves.)

But I do agree that those decisions have not generally been made by the 
current or previous presidents, and that we ought to pay attention to 
legislative elections!

Bob Wilson



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