Quote (Horford @ 23 Jul 2018 17:41)
what specifically are you worried about?
you say the the FBI doesn't appear to be abusing it's powers in the case of Page (as you say "it appears they had good enough evidence for the FISA warrant"), but then at the same time you say we should be concerned about the FBI/Govt. spying on us? so... Idk...
Edward Snowden pretty much already blew the whistle on this stuff. The Patriot Act greatly expanded US government surveillance powers in the wake of 9/11. Just take a look at the PRISM program and some of what the NSA has been caught doing with phone records.
This has been going on for a while, and it's only getting worse with technology. Even in the 1960s, the FBI placed MLK on warantless surveillance, saying he was "most dangerous and effective Negro leader in the country." It's an extreme example, but it's a good example of abuse.
No amount of disdain of Donald Trump should allow us to be okay with an intelligence community that surveys its citizens with no probable cause because it just so happens they are butting heads right now. And don't forget, this is the same sacred intelligence community that told us Iraq had WMDs, which drove us into one of the worst wars in US history.
Again, in Page's case, there probably was probable cause. No need to rehash that aspect of this again.