My sympathies for the FBI's concern about people being "beyond the law" is lessened a great deal given the past decade of revelations of illegal actions at FBI forensic centers, and the complete lack of prosecutions, not to mention the NSA spying, etc. Even the TSA is in violation of the law (fourth amendment protects against search without warrant, USC 18-242 makes violating that a federal crime, and a felony if done while armed.)
I'd like to see the government stop being "beyond the law".
Okay the TSA argument is brought up all the time, and the overall consensus as that you are voluntarily giving up your fourth amendment rights by consenting to the search.
It is not voluntary for airports to use TSA. Therefore you have no alternative options when it comes to air travel. Saying traveling by ground is an adequate alternative is nonsense.
Which is nonsense. I don't voluntarily and implicitly give up constitutional rights just because I chose a particular mode of transportation. Even if there was some sort of magic implication, surely I could cancel this out by loudly declaring "I decline to forfeit my Fourth Amendment rights and I do not consent to a search".
The interesting thing is that they're quotes from an NYU law professor who was the "top lawyer" for the FBI from 2011 to 2013. I do wish the reporter had asked him what responsibility he felt for so abusing the public trust that corporate America (of all possible parties!) felt they needed to respond in a way that could seriously raise the hackles of the federal government.
When people abuse the trust put in them, they deserve to lose that trust.
And they're not even the words of the author, they're a law professor and FBI Director. Necessary opinions from experts and subjects of the story. It would be a terrible article if they were absent.
Criminals shouldn't be able to use our freedoms against us. Accused criminals use our system of justice and freedom as shield that only weakens America further.
They have created a system that is a free-for-all for criminals
So we should give up all rights to privacy to help catch criminals?
What concerns me about this is companies marketing something expressly to allow people to place themselves beyond the law
Maybe that says more about your laws than the desire for privacy?