Not that anyone writes much anymore, but do they open our letters now too?

[reformist2]

Who knows how many birthday cards and Christmas cards the NSA has opened up, in the name of national security? :/

[Heidi]

1. I have to say that I send and receive lots of letters and packages

between Switzerland (where I live) and the US (where my family and many of my friends live). The only thing that was ever opened in in nearly 15 years was a package that my mom sent to us. It was opened by Swiss customs officers, who confiscated four boxes of Kraft mac and cheese.

[Chemisse]

2. Lucky for them, they really don't have to.

Now that nearly all of our written communications are on the internet.

Add in a little spyware to capture the contents of our computer documents, and they are really all set. They can know all about any of us.

[graham4anything]

3. I hope they check all the mail after the asssassination attempt against Mike Bloomberg & others

Thank God for security.

Same with when they almost killed Tom Daschle.

[marions ghost]

4. Open this PDF and read this:

We do not have enough legal protections for this kind of surveillance currently. The technology has outstripped our system of laws, and checks & balances. We need new legal protections. Urgently.
------------

Here is a good essay from the Washington University School of Law in 2012. This one talks about the "chill" on discussion of political and social issues--ie. the way that societies censor themselves when there is too much surveillance.

I read this whole essay in a short time--it is so well written and clear. I urge everyone to click on the link to the PDF and read this now, and send it to others. It will give you an overview of the issues in a very readable format:

http://www.harvardlawreview.org/symposium/papers2012/richards.pdf

"The Dangers of Surveillance" by Neil Richards

Excerpt:

"Existing attempts to define the dangers of surveillance are often unconvincing, and they have generally failed to speak in terms that are likely to influence the law. In this essay, I try to explain the harms of government surveillance. Drawing on law, history, literature, and the work of scholars in the emerging interdisciplinary field of “surveillance studies,” I offer an account of what those harms are and why they matter. I will move beyond the vagueness of current theories of surveillance to articulate a more coherent understanding and a more workable approach.

At the level of theory, I will explain when surveillance is particularly dangerous, and when it is not. Surveillance is harmful because it can chill the exercise of our civil liberties, and because it gives the watcher power over the watched. In terms of civil liberties, consider surveillance of people when they are thinking, reading, and communicating with others in order to make up their minds about their political and social beliefs. Such intellectual surveillance is particularly dangerous because it can cause people not to experiment with new, controversial, or deviant ideas. To protect our intellectual freedom to think without state oversight or interference, we need what I have elsewhere called “intellectual privacy.”

[veganlush]

5. they didn't open up calls either

it's call logs. six-seven years old, difference now is more oversight from congress and courts thanks to the current admin.

[KurtNYC]

6. They have scanners and software that let them scan the folded contents

layer by layer and then assemble it into one unified document. So they don't have to open the envelope.

[1-Old-Man]

7. To answer a question by asking a question: What's to stop them?

Answer: Nothing.