Senator presses NSA to reveal whether it spies on members of Congress

Re:Senator presses NSA to reveal whether it spies on members... by gizmo686 on Friday January 03, 2014 @05:51PM (#7008813)

In fairness, spying of congress (and the president, judges, etc) does seem much more concerning then spying on most citizens, as it would allow them to break the checks on their power that those bodies should provide. In fact, one of the largest concerns I have heard about surveleince is that it would allow them to blackmail politicians.

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Re:Senator presses NSA to reveal whether it spies on members... by sln on Friday January 03, 2014 @06:12PM (#7008923)

Yeah but if you're trying to catch criminals the signal to noise is far better with presidents, judges, and congress than with boring, normal citizens.

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Re:Senator presses NSA to reveal whether it spies on members... by frandroid on Friday January 03, 2014 @08:20PM (#7009420)

Hehe, good one.

FTR, the ratio is much lower when trying to catch foreign terrorists. :P

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Re:Senator presses NSA to reveal whether it spies on members... by coldtea on Friday January 03, 2014 @08:23PM (#7009430)

>In fact, one of the largest concerns I have heard about surveleince is that it would allow them to blackmail politicians

Would? That has been standard fair at least since the days of J.E Hoover.

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Re:Senator presses NSA to reveal whether it spies on members... by ChrisAntaki on Friday January 03, 2014 @09:27PM (#7009657)

And the technology keeps evolving.

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Re:Senator presses NSA to reveal whether it spies on members... by ChrisAntaki on Friday January 03, 2014 @09:31PM (#7009675)

> In fact, one of the largest concerns I have heard about surveleince is that it would allow them to blackmail politicians.

Considering the NSA is recording the content of everything, let's be honest, over time they accumulate blackmail material on everyone.

This applies to elected officials, and people who haven't even decided to run yet.

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Re:Senator presses NSA to reveal whether it spies on members... by InclinedPlane on Saturday January 04, 2014 @01:49AM (#7010288)

Erm, we live in a democracy. Almost anyone in the country over the age of 30 could potentially become a member of congress in 2 years or less. Being able to discourage someone from running for office is potentially just as distressing as being able to influence someone already in power.

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