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by silverpikezero 3088 days ago
> “We’re not interested in the millions of devices of everyday citizens,” he [Comey] said in New York at Fordham University’s International Conference on Cyber Security. “We’re interested in those devices that have been used to plan or execute terrorist or criminal activities.”

Oh so they only want to know about the bad people? That's a relief.
2 comments
vfulco 3088 days ago
The stupidity of the statement is beyond question. "Give us access to all and trust us to leave the 'innocents' alone. Umm, see J. Edgar Hoover's history for the damage an unrestrained senior official can do behind the scenes."
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cvwright 3088 days ago
I know you're trying to be snarky, but he's responding to a very real accusation from our community.

Every time this question comes up, half of us freak out and scream that the FBI is trying to grab all of our deepest darkest secrets.

I'm not inclined to trust them very far on this issue either, but I still think we should take it as a good sign that Wray is aware of our concerns and that he publicly acknowledges their validity.

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StanislavPetrov 3088 days ago
>but he's responding to a very real accusation from our community.

No he isn't. His whole point is that the FBI can't know for sure which of us is a terrorist or "bad guy" unless they can sift through all of our data and all of our devices to find out. Given the history of the US government classifying every sort of activist, from quaker to environmentalist as "terrorists", his argument should be tremendously unpersuasive to everyone who thinks it through.

http://abcnews.go.com/News/Blotter/fbi-spied-peta-greenpeace...

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mindslight 3088 days ago
> we should take it as a good sign that Wray is aware of our concerns and that he publicly acknowledges their validity.

This statement is not acknowledging our concerns' validity, but brushing them aside with the tired old "nothing to hide" fallacy.

They are indeed interested in "the millions of devices of everyday citizens", because in their warped power-craving worldview, every one of those citizens could actually be a "sleeper threat" committing precrime. If they really are not interested, then why are they continuing to saber-rattle for criminalizing those millions' activities?

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