Are you bothered by the possibility of the government spying on you?

[IHL]

Are you concerned the government may be spying on you?

[erichthewebguy]

An event occured today that is VERY similar and relevant to this question. I got a gift card from my parents from Kohl's for Christmas. Today they had a 60% off sale, so I rolled down there to take advantage. I had never been there (they are fairly new to my area). I went into the male fitting room to try on my selections, and was immediately struck by a large sign. It read:

"Our commitment to our customers and providing you with low prices includes providing strigent security. This includes prosecuting all shoplifters. This dressing room is monitored by Kohl's male security staff."

I was not bothered by that. First of all, if they watched watch me undress, then more power to 'em. I'm sure that even now, the poor guy behind the glass is looking for another line of work!

Seriously, though, I am not bothered by it. They have private dressing rooms, the type that you don't have to go and count out your items to an attendant, and have a numbered tag on your door that reflects how many items you took inside, then have your items counted as you exit, as if you for sure stole something and they just need the opportunity to catch you... And if not this time, then surely next time! No, I am not bothered by someone of the same sex POSSIBLY monitoring my fitting room activities. By the way, MANY retail stores do the same thing but do not inform you. Most states have a law that says something like they can watch you, if it is someone of the same sex, but they can't record you unless they observe a crime.

Similarly, I have no problem with the government observing whatever activities, especially during this time of increased threat.

1. I have nothing to hide
2. I feel better knowing that they may or may not be looking at me, my neighbor, the guy down the road, or the guy in Turkey. I feel better when I look at my kid and tell him that he is safe, if I can have something in my mind to back that up.
3. I can almost tell you for sure that they are not spying on me. We are the typical American family. We drive a used car. We have a bank account, with three-digits worth of money in it. Sometimes it has 4 digits, but only for a day or two after payday. I never deposit any weird checks. I never call outside the country. I never go to terrorist-supporting websites.

In other words, I never do anything that would pique their interest, so I could care less. In fact, if they are spying on me, the only reason I would be upset was that they are wasting their time on me when they should be using that bandwidth/electricity/manpower/etc on something worth watching. But hey, like the story above, if they wanna watch me, more power to 'em!

[Oi_Ve]

There are lots of pitfalls and belweathers and pied pipers in American government, not the least of which is public safety. I don't want to see people die any more than anyone else here, and I certainly don't want another terrorist attack.
But I'd rather have another 9/11 than send my grandson down the path of tyranny.
People, liberal AND conservative, have forgotten the role of the United States Federal Government, and this country has become worse off for it. The role of the National government is to ensure the health, safety, welfare, and security of the State governments: not the people.
In turn, the State governments are entrusted with the health, safety, welfare, and security of its people.
The National government is not a result of a contract amongst Americans, but the result of a contract between the officials that I elected in my state and the officials elected in other states.
It is NOT Big Brother's job to protect me: that duty lies in the hands of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
As such, the Federal government has no right to spy on me or mine in the name of protecting me.
There was a damn good reason for leaving the CIA and FBI seperate and limiting the intel they could share, and thats because united these two agencies are DANGEROUS.
But my ambiguity and my gun were meant to be my greatest weapon, and I'll be damned if I'll give up either without a fight. A gun is useless if the man who has it is dead. If tyranny ever grips America, it won't be because the government took away your guns, it'll be because the government will have killed everyone who has a gun.
The difference between the government watching me and the security man at Kohl's watching me is that the security man at Kohl's can't use that information to assassinate me, nor will I ever have a reason to over throw Kohl's.

[erichthewebguy]

The difference between the government watching me and the security man at Kohl's watching me is that the security man at Kohl's can't use that information to assassinate me, nor will I ever have a reason to over throw Kohl's.
The guy on the other end of the glass might have wanted to assassinate me, only because he was tired of looking at my fat a**! :icon_mrgr

Seriously though, I see your points Oi. I just think that it's ok for the National Security Administration to monitor foreign phone calls to try to keep us safe.

[Guns R Cool]

Are you concerned the government may be spying on you?

No.

[Argonath]

Sorta bothered. IOf they're looking at where I go on the internet other than here. . . well, I may be gone for a while, let me tell ya!

Mainly, though, my concerns are mostly like that of Oi_Ve. It's not the way of America, and shouldn't be, but, I don't want to die. . . You see my dilema.:icon_sad:

[FKLBRLS]

Well heck, let'm look at me. I got nothing to hide. Although I would have to ask why they would be monitoring my phone/internet when they should be monitoring someone more likely to be a threat.

[aaron22]

I agree with "FKLBRLS." If my phone is being monitored by some one and I umm lets just use this as an example, I happen to be having phone sex, they are not going to arrest me. They won't be telling people what to say except when it is a matter of national security. Go ahead listen to my conversations all you want, they will make you laugh, make you cry, and maybe even turn you on alittle! But the point is they will be helping to prevent another 9/11!

[Argonath]

Although I would have to ask why they would be monitoring my phone/internet when they should be monitoring someone more likely to be a threat.

How would they know you're not a threat if they haven't observed you?

[jackhabit]

anyone here who ISN'T concerned with the possibility of the gov't spying on them SHOULD be. why? because if they're concentrating their efforts on people who have NO connection to terrorism (like the good folks on this site) then they're obviously wasting vaulable time and resources and NOT going after those who wish to do us harm. this just reinforces the idea that these clowns are clueless (sorry to badmouth your boyfriend bushrocks) and are pathetically grasping at whatever they can in the hopes of doing god knows what. also, i'm not too nuts about trading my privacy for a false smokescreen sense of security.

[Bumblebee]

I voted no.

Erich, I've seen that sign before in the dressing rooms, never paid much attention to what it said, but I just wondered how do we know that it might be a man behind the mirror while I was undressing?

I know a guy who said he pulls his pants down and moons the mirror.:icon_lol:

[FKLBRLS]

We're kind of speaking hypothetically here jackhabit. The monitoring program only went after international-to-domestic phone calls, not domestic-to-domestic. And even at that, the only international calls being monitored were probably those to Africa or the Middle East. So unless you're talking to Ahmad in Egypt, you don't really have to worry about the government monitoring your phone. As for internet habits, the government may do several blanket searches throughout the year to pick out "higher risk" people to monitor further. It's not like the government is going to do extensive searches on EVERY US citizen. They'll just do a blanket search of all computers, pick out the ones that have gone to "questionable" sites, and then spend the rest of the time monitoring these "higher-risk" computers.

[Oi_Ve]

"The man who has nothing to hide has everything to hide; he just doesn't know it yet."
-Nicholas Specter

If those of you who claim you have nothing to hide do indeed have nothing to hide, then answer me these questions:

-What is your S.S. number?
-Your PIN number?
-What is your blood type?
-Where do you live?
-Where do you work?
-What route do you take to work?
-Do you have a spouse?
-What is their name?
-Where do they work?
-What route do they take to work?
-Children?
-What are their names?
-How old?
-Do they go to school?
-Where do they go to school?
-What bus number do they ride?
-How many guns do you have, if any?
-If I wanted to, say, steal your most expensive items, where would I find them in your home?

If you trust Uncle Sam with this info, why not trust me? Eh?
You've got to hide than you realize.

[Wadi66]

And another important question... where do you bank and what is your account number? :icon_mrgr

[jackhabit]

We're kind of speaking hypothetically here jackhabit. The monitoring program only went after international-to-domestic phone calls, not domestic-to-domestic.

i understand that, but i still doubt it's true. if two suspects that are known to be in this country are chatting it up, i doubt there would be any reason why they wouldn't tap their lines.

[Peace_by_superior _power]

My biggest beef with the patriot act is that you cant claim to be helping america when you wont secure the border because heck an exspensive security system wont do any good if you leave your doors open.

[Dagummit]

My biggest beef with the Patriot Act is that if you refiance your house and pull the extra money out of it, you have to state why you are doing it (home improvements, etc). That is BS! It's my equity, the damn gov't doesn't need to know what I am doing with it.

[toddy rotton]

Are you concerned the government may be spying on you?

I voted no, I don't care. I try to live an open book life.
In sales there are many "stories" that get told to the point of becoming legendary. ie. "farmers daughters jokes."

There was this well endowed young woman who lived in Corona Ca. and when a salesman offered "obscure" glass for her bathroom window she said; "Let them look, I don't mind giving them a show if they want to watch."

IHL, are you concerned? When/if, the dems ever get back into power, (God forbid), well, you can probably run your site from prison!:biggrin:

[IHL]

I'm not too worried. There will just be that much more ammo to use.

This site was the busiest before the election. Having libs in charge would be a nonstop wealth of topic. Not that I hope it happens. :mad1:

[undertheradar4832]

Yea. I really have no problems with the patriot act. I also think that when Oi Vey says " you trust the goverment why not trust me?" that doesn't make to much sense. The stuff he was asking was mostly stupid and not revelant or stuff that i wouldnt care about giving out. The goverment cant steal my idenity.

[Oi_Ve]

Yea. I really have no problems with the patriot act. I also think that when Oi Vey says " you trust the goverment why not trust me?" that doesn't make to much sense. The stuff he was asking was mostly stupid and not revelant or stuff that i wouldnt care about giving out. The goverment cant steal my idenity.

I think some posters understood the point of some of those questions, and quite frankly I don't find any of them stupid.
The Federal government can steal your identity, it can kill you in your sleep, and it is NOT your friend or your mommy.
Policing power was meant to be the job of the states, not the Feds. The Feds can look all they want OUTSIDE of this country, where their spying has a military purpose. But when you do it within your borders, the spying can be used for tyrannical purposes.
Any really, Undertheradar4832, why trust the government over me? What have I ever done to you? Most likely nothing (unless you were that jerk who cut me off the other day :icon_lol: ).
But what have governments done to their people? Quite a few things come to mind.
Everyone has something to hide, whether they want to admit it or not.

[SlickChunky]

I haven’t been to this site for a long time. It's nice to see it again; I see a lot of good people and good posts. Being busy at school sucks, but it's time to me to make more room for politics! Ha-ha.

I have absolutely NO problem with President Bush using the wiretaps, even if he was tapping my phone calls. For one thing, I know I am doing nothing wrong, so what have I got to hide? Invasion of privacy is a bunk argument when concerning national security (it's often a claim made my murderers, rapists, arsonists, and other discussing people). Now I'm certainly not calling for everyone's phone to be tapped, as I'm sure a liberal would like to claim. We good honest citizens of this country have nothing to hide, and for our safety and everyone else's we need it. Let us be reminded how adamantly Liberals have fought for the rights of criminals, after all, justice should have many road blocks so that the guilty can sneak by. Just think of the minorities liberals, they are victims of the white christen oppressors, it's the least we should do for them (I like getting them with their own terminology.) Here are the FACTS.

-The Brooklyn Bridge and thousands of lives were saved because of this.

-EVERY President has done it, Democrat or Republican. (May I remind you of Clinton's unwarranted invasion of a private home, an act which had to be done.)

-There is not one wrongly accused man or women that has come forward; clearly no abuse is in sight.

And that's NO SPIN. That is the truth, and who knows what other horrible events were stopped that are still classified. The New York Times should pay for endangering National Security. Now the Terrorists will have to be foiled in some other way.

[SealabFan77]

I think I'll give up my rights of privacy so the government can catch pedofiles, terrorists, and drug trafficants. Why me worry? I'm not any of those, and why should anyone else worry?

[SgtATON]

It seems to me that the only people that go overboard with this "invasion of my privacy" speech are those who have something to hide. Both government jobs I hold required me to go through a very involved background check and lengthy investigations. I am glad that I had to endure all of that before I was given this much power. I guess the libs just hand out authoity like it is candy.

[RIGHT in the middle]

I don't care what they do to protect me and my family. Just as long as it is Homeland Secrity and not the local police. Then it would be fringing on my rights because those people suck ass. I do have stuff to hide. Although I am pretty sure Homeland Security doesn't care what I drank and smoked last night and doesn't give two shits how I got home. Just as long as I didn't plan on blowing anyone up while I do it.