U.S. citizens no longer trust their government, polls suggest. A recent national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that 53 percent of respondents think the federal government threatens their own personal rights and freedoms. Just 28 percent of respondents surveyed by the Pew Research Center rate the federal government in Washington favorably. That is down five points from a year ago and the lowest level of trust percentage ever in a Pew Research Center survey.
A new lawsuit illustrates why the lack of trust exists. The U.S. Justice Department lawsuit, filed April 22, 2013, attempts to force Google to comply with Federal Bureau of Investigation demands for confidential user data.
The FBI uses so-called National Security Letters, a secret electronic data-gathering technique that does not need a judge's approval and recently was declared unconstitutional in an unrelated court case.
NSLs supposed are used only in national security investigations, not routine criminal probes, and there's no upper limit on the amount of data a single NSL can demand. Also, any recipient of an NSL, which do not require warrants, also make criminal the act of revealing that an NSL was issued.
No comments:
Post a Comment