Civil Liberties & Privacy

TGIF: The Phony Trade-off between Privacy and Security

by Sheldon Richman August 16, 2013

Most people take it for granted — because they’ve heard it so many times from politicians and pundits — that they must trade some privacy for security in this dangerous world. The challenge, we’re told, is to find the right “balance.” Let’s examine this. On its face the idea seems reasonable. I can imagine hiring a firm to look after ...

The Outrage of Stop-and-Frisk

by David S. D'Amato August 1, 2013

As the subject of an ongoing trial in federal court, Floyd, et al. v. City of New York, et al., the controversial police policy known as “stop and frisk” is receiving more attention than perhaps at any other moment in its history. For most of that time — and indeed it is difficult to know exactly how long the ...

Snowden and the Surveillance State

by Tim Kelly July 31, 2013

When I first found out that the National Security Agency (NSA) was tracking my telephone and Internet activity, I must confess, a part of me felt flattered. Sure, it’s creepy, illegal, and unconstitutional, but on a certain level the idea that a supersecret government agency supposedly responsible for protecting the country from terrorists and other evildoers would bother with creating ...

TGIF: Is Edward Snowden a Lawbreaker?

by Sheldon Richman June 28, 2013

Most people believe that Edward Snowden, who has confirmed that the U.S. government spies on us, broke the law. Even many of his defenders concede this. While in one sense the statement “Snowden broke the law” may be trivially true, in another, deeper sense it is untrue. He may  have violated the terms of legislation passed by Congress and signed ...

The Libertarian Angle: National Service

by Future of Freedom Foundation June 24, 2013

Jacob Hornberger and Sheldon Richman discuss recent talk about instituting a national service program. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly.

Motives Aside, the NSA Should Not Spy on Us

by Sheldon Richman June 18, 2013

You need not suspect the motives of those responsible for NSA surveillance to detest what they are doing. In fact, we may have more to fear from spies acting out of patriotic zeal than those acting out of power lust or economic interest: Zealots are more likely to eschew restraints that might compromise their righteous cause. For the sake of ...

TGIF: It’s Not Edward Snowden Who Betrayed Us

by Sheldon Richman June 14, 2013

When you cut through the fog, the NSA controversy is about whether we should trust people with institutional power. Edward Snowden’s courageous exposure of massive secret surveillance separates those who say yes from those who say, “Hell no!” The trusting attitude can be found among progressives and conservatives alike (with notable exceptions), and even some who have identified themselves ...

Obama Speaks with Forked Tongue on Surveillance

by Sheldon Richman June 11, 2013

It’s bad enough the federal government spies on us. Must it insult our intelligence too? The government’s response to Edward Snowden’s leaks about the National Security Agency’s secret monitoring of the Internet and collection of our telephone logs is a mass of contradictions. Officials have said the disclosures are (1) old news, (2) grossly inaccurate, and (3) a blow to ...

The Libertarian Angle: Surveillance-State Tyranny

by Future of Freedom Foundation June 10, 2013

In this week's edition of The Libertarian Angle, Jacob Hornberger and Sheldon Richman discuss the recent disclosures about the National Security Agency's surveillance program. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly. Download the audio here.

TGIF: Criminal Government

by Sheldon Richman May 3, 2013

“A nonpartisan, independent review of interrogation and detention programs in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks concludes that ‘it is indisputable that the United States engaged in the practice of torture’ and that the nation’s highest officials bore ultimate responsibility for it.” So began a page-one story in the New York Times that should have ...

Is the Supreme Court’s Ruling on Surveillance Really That Significant?

by Tim Kelly March 13, 2013

In a remarkable achievement of legal sophistry, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against a constitutional challenge to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act. The 5–4 ruling this February upheld the federal law that authorizes the National Security Agency (NSA) to eavesdrop on international telephone calls and emails in the so-called war on terror. The high court’s conservative bloc united to ...

The Nobel Peace Laureate with a Kill List

by Wendy McElroy March 12, 2013

On February 5, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney offered a rare defense of America’s drone policy. He stated, “These strikes are legal, they are ethical, and they are wise.” The rarity of his statement arises from the fact that the White House has stonewalled reporters on the drone program since its inception. The proximate cause of Carney’s ...