Warning! Possibly unpopular opinion ahead: I want them to monitor Facebook and Instagram for domestic threats in real time... I would really like that so please do, and when you detect them, without abusing anyone's rights, please go and arrest them quickly ( on legitimate charges with supporting evidence of course ) BEFORE they shoot up churches, malls and walmarts.
Well for one, the article never specified anything about private text chats (unless I missed it?) so I think you're asking a misleading question. Most of the article was about the US government/FBI looking to read public data, which AFAIK has never been protected by wiretapping laws.
Additionally, something that is different is the scale. In the US, an activity may be legal if done once but if done millions of times it may be illegal. Here, there are many times more people plotting, discussing, and celebrating terrorist events online than there are on traditional phone calls. Having phone calls be traditionally 1-1 and private internet chats be 1-many, even 1-1000000 or 1 to 7000000000 if public, is a totally different beast. I'm not sure there is any analogous previous laws, I think we need new laws.
I think it's interesting how much animosity there is between the military and the militias. I personally think it makes sense to make a formal link between them to build trust.
For example, the military could regulate the militias in exchange for access to military equipment and a promised to join in officially declared wars under federal command. I honestly don't know the particulars (i.e. what militias would accept), but more formal ties with the government could ease tensions with these groups that just want to defend the America they believe in. Some groups obviously wouldn't accept, but that just makes it easier to tell who is likely to cause problems.
I agree though, I'm not worried about mosques, I'm worried about extremists, and extremists come from a all manner of backgrounds.
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[ 3.7 ms ] story [ 24.9 ms ] thread(The former being protected by federal wiretapping laws that have been around a looooong time)
Additionally, something that is different is the scale. In the US, an activity may be legal if done once but if done millions of times it may be illegal. Here, there are many times more people plotting, discussing, and celebrating terrorist events online than there are on traditional phone calls. Having phone calls be traditionally 1-1 and private internet chats be 1-many, even 1-1000000 or 1 to 7000000000 if public, is a totally different beast. I'm not sure there is any analogous previous laws, I think we need new laws.
For example, the military could regulate the militias in exchange for access to military equipment and a promised to join in officially declared wars under federal command. I honestly don't know the particulars (i.e. what militias would accept), but more formal ties with the government could ease tensions with these groups that just want to defend the America they believe in. Some groups obviously wouldn't accept, but that just makes it easier to tell who is likely to cause problems.
I agree though, I'm not worried about mosques, I'm worried about extremists, and extremists come from a all manner of backgrounds.