next up for civil rights infringement in MA, expanded wiretapping

[mattyw]

Officials urge tougher state wiretapping law; highlight impact on reducing gun violence - Boston.com

The state’s nearly four-decades-old wiretapping law needs to be updated in order to give police and prosecutors more muscle to clamp down on gun violence, a group of legislators, law enforcement officials, and mayors said today.
They said they were pushing for “critical and long-overdue” changes in a bill filed today in the Legislature. The bill would expand the scope of electronic surveillance, which is currently limited to organized crime cases, to cases involving drugs and guns, child pornography, human trafficking, and money laundering.
The bill would also modernize the definition of “wire communication” in the law to include wireless communication on cellphones, Attorney General Martha Coakley said. And it would extend the length of a wiretap from 15 days to 30 days, in line with federal law.
The current wiretapping law was enacted in 1968 with an emphasis on organized crime. Multiple speakers at a news conference this morning at Coakley’s office in downtown Boston stressed that that approach was outdated and that Boston’s crime scene had changed.
“I’m unsure of the last time we’ve had a report La Cosa Nostra fired a round in this city,” said Boston Police Superintendent-in-Chief Daniel Linskey.
“As a former federal prosecutor, I have direct experience with the limitations of the current wiretap statute in Massachusetts,” New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell said in a statement. “These updates, most significantly expanding the list of covered crimes, will go a long way toward strengthening the Commonwealth’s hand in investigating and prosecuting the kinds of crimes that affect cities across Massachusetts, including New Bedford.”
Coakley referenced the recent shooting in Newtown, Conn., and the threat that gun violence poses to children when asked why the law should be changed now. She also mentioned a 2011 murder conviction that was overturned by a Massachusetts judge because of a wiretap that was deemed illegal because the case did not involve organized crime.
The group also stressed that the law contained “safeguards” against “government overreach.” Coakley emphasized that probable cause that a crime is being committed must be shown before a wiretap can be implemented.

 

[Bfatz]

Hello Martha:

 

[mattyw]

 

[Bfatz]

Isn't it funny how 90% off all this new Legislation is now being touted as a Gun control measure...Where the **** is our side or who the **** on our side is speaking out about this silliness.

 

[atilla]

Isn't it funny how 90% off all this new Legislation is now being touted as a Gun control measure...Where the **** is our side or who the **** on our side is speaking out about this silliness.

this.

next up is that we are all to be shipped to guantanimo bay for an undisclosed period of time. it's for the children. we all own guns and are potential sources of gun violence. pack us all up and send us to castro-land.

...though the tropical air might be nice.

 

[Riverside]

"Coakley referenced the recent shooting in Newtown, Conn., and the threat that gun violence poses to children when asked why the law should be changed now."

IMHO, this is quite a stretch to even imply that an outdated wiretap law would change the outcome.
Best regards.

 

[mattyw]

no one cares because it will stop crime and "I dont own guns so my wire will never be tapped" etc etc

"Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me"

comes to mind

 

[hankster]

Good Ol Marsha , she sure fights to uphold our civil rights .

 

[Bfatz]

"Coakley referenced the recent shooting in Newtown, Conn., and the threat that gun violence poses to children when asked why the law should be changed now."

IMHO, this is quite a stretch to even imply that an outdated wiretap law would change the outcome.
Best regards.

The only thing Outdated are these people we call Politicians. We are being bombarded with piss poor legislation.

 

[Hoover]

lol what movie is that from

Trading places. Eddie murphy and dan akroyd from 1983ish. Funny movie.

 

[Skeeter]

Wire taps...but it's for our own good right?

 

[terraformer]

They have been pushing for this for years. Keep in mind, in just about any other state all it takes is a warrant to wiretap for these crimes and just about all other ones. But in MA even the government is limited in it's power to wiretap and must have legislative approval to wiretap for any given crime. So it's not really as big a deal as people make it out to be, but it's correct to say this is eroding liberty, to the extent our liberty in MA is actually higher than in other states on this particular issue.

 

[mattyw]

They have been pushing for this for years. Keep in mind, in just about any other state all it takes is a warrant to wiretap for these crimes and just about all other ones. But in MA even the government is limited in it's power to wiretap and must have legislative approval to wiretap for any given crime. So it's not really as big a deal as people make it out to be, but it's correct to say this is eroding liberty, to the extent our liberty in MA is actually higher than in other states on this particular issue.

this I knew.

still another step among many, just one rare instance where we are behind the rest of the country in eroding freedom like you mentioned

 

[Midnight412]

Damn.. Wrong movie..

So here we are again with a BS argument for wiretapping to increase safety... Yet she says that there would need to be clear evidence of a crime before the wiretap could be used... So what? They will wire tap the dead suspect cell phone after he is done shooting up a school?

 

[ToddDubya]

Coakley referenced the recent shooting in Newtown, Conn., and the threat that gun violence poses to children when asked why the law should be changed now.

Clearly guns are the cause of all of society's problems. I'm sure the Newtown police were *this close* to getting a wiretap for Adam Lanza's house, which would have prevented the whole thing. GMAFB

 

[Fixxah]

.

 

[Fixxah]

this.

next up is that we are all to be shipped to guantanimo bay for an undisclosed period of time. it's for the children. we all own guns and are potential sources of gun violence. pack us all up and send us to castro-land.

...though the tropical air might be nice.

Get on the bus, we're headed to the ravine.

-tapatalk and Devin McCourty blow chunks-

 

[MisterHappy]

Who said "never let a good crisis go to waste"?

Just because the proposed gun legislation would not have caused any difference, does not mean that the current climate should not be used to get it passed.

Just because the wiretap shit has nothing to do with the "gun problem" does not mean that the current climate should not be used to get it passed.


.

 

[Climbnsink]

Good. The sensible lefties hate wiretapping. I only wish it was proposed by a R. Same stuff is always worse from the other party.