Communist dictator Mugabe approves surveillance law allowing state monitoring of...

hey! it's good enough for this guy...why not us! this will show those freedom hating muslims commanded by the guy on the dialysis machine we can't find!

Communist dictator Mugabe approves surveillance law allowing state monitoring of Internet, phones [align=left] AP
Monday Aug 6, 2007[/align]
HARARE, Zimbabwe: President Robert Mugabe has approved a law that will give the government sweeping powers to monitor the Internet and mobile and fixed telephones in a country where the independent press has been gagged.
The official Herald newspaper said Saturday that the Interception of Communications Act would allow the government to "sift for information it deems subversive or used for organized crime."
The law allows "certain communications to be intercepted or monitored in the course of their transmission through telecommunications or the postal service and sets up a monitoring and interception center," it said.

Critics argue that the law will restrict freedom of speech still further and allow the secret police to monitor the communications of the political opposition, journalists and human rights activists.
The government denies any sinister intent, saying it is for security reasons and merely puts its anti-terrorism legislation in line with international practice.
Internet and mobile phone service providers would, at their own expense, have to provide the government with equipment to sort and intercept communications. "The minister of transport and communication will be mandated with issuing a warrant to authorized persons where there is reasonable suspicion that a serious offense has been or is being committed or that there is a threat to national security," the Herald said.
It said that the chief of defense intelligence, the head of Mugabe's Department of National Security, the country's police commissioner and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority were all authorized to request the surveillance.
A 2003 law already gave the government draconian powers over the media, and effectively closed the independent press. Government repression has increased even further this year with a ban on all demonstrations.

[align=left] Analysis: New Law Gives Government Six Months to Turn Internet and Phone Systems into Permanent Spying Architecture
Ryan Singel
Wired
Monday Aug 6, 2007[/align]
[align=left] A new law expanding the government's spying powers gives the Bush Administration a six-month window to install permanent back doors in the nation's communication networks. The legislation was passed hurriedly by Congress over the weekend and signed into law Sunday by President Bush.
The bill, known as the Protect America Act, removes the prohibition on warrantless spying on Americans abroad and gives the government wide powers to order communication service providers such as cell phone companies and ISPs to make their networks available to government eavesdroppers.
The Administration pushed for passage of the changes to close what it called a "surveillance gap," referring to a long-standing feature of the nation's surveillance laws that required the government to get court approval to capture communications inside the United States.

While the nation's spy laws have been continually loosened since 9/11, the Administration never pushed for the right to tap the nation's domestic communication networks until a secret court recently struck down a key pillar of the government's secret spying program.
The Administration argues that the world's communication networks now route many foreign to foreign calls and emails through switches in the United States.
Prior to the law's passage, the nation's spy agencies, such as the National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency, didn't need any court approval to spy on foreigners so long as the wiretaps were outside the United States.
Now, those agencies are free to order services like Skype, cell phone companies and arguably even search engines to comply with secret spy orders to create back doors in domestic communication networks for the nation's spooks. While it's unclear whether the wiretapping can be used for domestic purposes, the law only requires that the programs that give rise to such orders have a "significant purpose" of foreign intelligence gathering.
The law:

• Defines the act of reading and listening into American's phone calls and internet communications when they are "reasonably believed" to be outside the country as not surveillance.
• Gives the government 6 months of extended powers to issue orders to "communication service providers," to help with spying that "concerns persons reasonably believed to be outside the United States." The language doesn't require the surveillance to only target people outside the United States, only that some of it does.
• Forces Communication Service providers to comply secretly, though they can challenge the orders to the secret Foreign Intelligence Court. Individuals or companies given such orders will be paid for their cooperation and can not be sued for complying.
• Makes any program or orders launched in the next six months legal forever and perpetually renewable after the six month "sunset" of the new powers.
• Grandfathers in the the current secret surveillance program -- sometimes referred to as the Terrorist Surveillance Program -- and any others that have been blessed by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
• Requires the Attorney General to submit to the secret surveillance court its reasons why these programs aren't considered domestic spying programs, but the court can only throw out those reasons if it finds that they are "clearly erroneous."
• Requires the Attorney General to tell Congress twice a year about any incidents of surveillance abuse and give statistics about how many surveillance programs were started and how many directives were issued.
• Makes no mention of the Inspector General, who uncovered abuses of the Patriot Act by the FBI after being ordered by Congress to audit the use of powerful self-issued subpoenas, is not mentioned in the bill.

In short, the law gives the Administration the power to order the nation's communication service providers -- which range from Gmail, AOL IM, Twitter, Skype, traditional phone companies, ISPs, internet backbone providers, Federal Express, and social networks -- to create permanent spying outposts for the federal government.
These outposts need only to have a "significant" purpose of spying on foreigners, would be nearly immune to challenge by lawsuit, and have no court supervision over their extent or implementation.
Abuses of the outposts will be monitored only by the Justice Department, which has already been found to have underreported abuses of other surveillance powers to Congress.
In related international news, Zimbabwe's repressive dictator Robert Mugabe also won passage of a law allowing the government to turn that nation's communication infrastructure into a gigantic, secret microphone.
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if they monitor me because I oppose the government, and might be growing marijuana on the internet, they can find out anything about me...if my government does that, there will be one hell of a lawsuit...they better not come knocking on my door..I'm no terrorist, I just like to get high.

During Politicized FISA Debate, Nadler Forced To Withdraw â??Truthful And Accurate Statementâ?? That Bush Broke The Law [align=left] Think Progress
Monday Aug 6, 2007[/align]
Yesterday, under heavy political pressure from the White House, the Senate approved a bill that provided expansive spying authority for the Bush administration. The White House had earlier rejected a compromise bill that provided powers sought by the Director of National Intelligence, opting instead to play politics with the issue.
Moments ago, the House passed the White House-backed Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) bill by a 227-183 vote.
During the heated House floor debate over the legislation, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) said the White House-backed FISA legislation was nothing more than a political ploy:

This bill is what Karl Rove and his political operatives in the White House have decided they need to win elections. Thatâ??s not national security. Thatâ??s political warfare.
I do not believe we will soon be able to undo this damage. Rights given away are not easily regained. This bill is not needed to protect America from terrorists. The only purpose of this bill is to protect this administration from its own political problems and cynicism, and its own illegal actions it has taken outside the law without any authorization.

In a symbolic move that reflected the efforts by many conservatives to politicize the FISA debate, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) immediately rose and asked that Nadler withdraw his statement that the Bush administration had conducted illegal activities.
After some pause, Nadler said he would withdraw his â??truthful and accurate statementsâ?� in order to proceed with the floor debate. Issa, unhappy with Nadlerâ??s retraction, said, â??He is not withdrawing it if he claims theyâ??re accurate.â?� Nadler responded, â??Iâ??m withdrawing them without any reservation but I retain my opinion.â?� Watch it:

Issaâ??s comments reflected the nature of the FISA debate â?? conservatives were more concerned with providing political cover for the White House than passing legislation that addressed national security concerns.
Nadlerâ??s comments are hardly inaccurate. The current FISA debate was precipitated by the fact that a court had ruled the administrationâ??s spying actions were outside the law. Just this week, Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) revealed a secret court ruling that found â??a key element of the Bush administrationâ??s wiretapping efforts illegal.â?�

Chip chip chipping away. Soon it will just be an ancient memory, (the constitution and bill of rights). When they go after the internet, you'll know it's over. Rupert Murdoch has the press in the bag, The networks are bought and paid for, so the internet is all thats left. When they get rid of the internet privacy, be prepared for the gulags, Guantanamo, here we come.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by medicinal

Chip chip chipping away. Soon it will just be an ancient memory, (the constitution and bill of rights).

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ahmen there, brother...the constitution doesn't even give the federal government control over marijuana...that means it's supposed to be left up to the states...the states don't even have the right to medical marijuana...the constitution will soon be completely useless..

I would have thought they wanted to monitor bathrooms and urinals. After all, a pervert in politics needs his kicks somehow.