Shakey said:
I don't see what the whitehouse would gain by compiling a "dissident list".
It's not their intention to gather a dissident list, as far as I can tell. But due to the laws and regulations concerning how they are collecting and disseminating data, it effectively becomes such.
They have designed the program in such a way that they are required to hold onto this information in perpetuity, and are not required to disclose any of it. Whether this was intentional or not doesn't matter - it is what it is.
But it points to two troubling possibilities:
1. They understood the rules and outcome, and designed this program to take advantage of it (ie, they are intentionally collecting this information in a way that will allow them to keep it forever, and keep it secret)
or
2. They didn't understand the rules, and are now collecting data in a way that requires them to hold onto it for the use of the president
and any future president for any reason or purpose without ever disclosing that it was used, much less how it was used or what is in it.
Either way, the outcome is bad, which is leading many to scratch their heads at the apparent stupidity of Obama - because right now people are still thinking the best of him. But one shouldn't be thinking about him. What if we got someone in office who decided to use that data 20 years from now? They pull up 20 year old emails that may have nothing to do with Obama's healthcare plan, but were part of someone else's email as a quoted bit.
The difference between this and current internet tapping is
1. No warrant
2. They can't decide 20 years from now that they want to read emails from this time.
3. Legally, they can't order taps for political purposes, but this data they can use in ANY way they want.
So, again, it's within reason to believe that the data collected now could be used against someone in the future. The data never needs to be disclosed, and it's stored forever.
It's another Hoover's Secret Files at best (and that was bad enough) or much worse (ie, I'm trying to avoid godwin'ing the thread, but, well, they had similar programs that started out innocently enough with no repercussions - just let us know if someone is passing out 'bad' information...).
-Adam
