Well this bites sopa was bad but this is probably worse in some ways my mom is on the computer literally 24-hrs a day due to her inability to work on anything more then an online job and we've been sending mail back and forth and she says "if that got you hot look at this" and sends me this link I thought it was potential bad news I want to know am I just paranoid or what here it is
sorry http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/01/the_proposed_enemy_expatriation_act_sending_american_citizens_into_exile.html

Hey, Look! We're slowly turning into China, with the way they can spy on texts, calls, email, etc, and how they can do what ever they want with out being "discriminatory".

If the government can detain American citizens though to be involved with terrorism, can they detain themselves for terrorizing the Bill or Rights?

What I'm confused is how this is exactly news? This kind of crap has been going on since September 11. The Patriot Act is certainly not news and was a topic of controversy for a long time. This is a prime example of going completely overboard in response to an event. Granted, it was tragic, but this method of dealing with it will in no way prevent it from happening again. It's not like the ones responsible for that happening were US citizens, so why look at US citizens to prevent it from happening again. But those who live in America might as well just get used to living under paranoia by government officials. It isn't going to change anytime soon.

You guys don't really believe this, do you? This is clearly not something that is happening or is going to happen in our country any time soon. It's just a bunch of creepers who are all up in arms because it makes them more difficult to proceed with their elicit activities.

Lazlo Falconi : Good thing there is a voice of reason out there. I find these conspiracy articles funny. Yeah, the patriot act was nuts, but I doubt it will go THIS far. Don't get me wrong, if it actually did, I wouldn't be super surprised about it. Not in the least. But I think this is just a little far fetched. It kind of reminds me of the movie The Dark Knight, where he turned every cell phone in Gotham a microphone which could give Batman a tab on every person in the entire city. 

rcarter2 : But even in your very extreme example, neither Batman nor Lucius Fox were actively listening to anything on those phones, there was simply a computer algorithm that listened for certain key words to find the Joker. Only when the key words were found did the system alert Lucius of any conversations.

I'm not good with conspiracy theories, but from what I can tell this is really out there. This isn't the most out there theory I've seen, but it's pretty high up on the list. I don't see anything in this article happening any time soon. If it does, lets just hope it gets stopped as quickly as SOPA did.

Lazlo Falconi : The government already "listens" in on phone calls and emails for specific key words. And the idea that only those who are doing something "wrong" are the ones who would have to worry about unlawful searches (or in this case, unlawful espionage of personal conversations) is laughably naive. It would be incredibly easy to eliminate any perceived political or social threat using the Patriot Act and Echelon.

Also, the ability to detain immigrants without the need of a trial, including those who are now permanent residents, is incredibly dangerous. It would be rather ignorant to pretend that such a power couldn't be abused, especially by a country that has a pretty rough history when it comes to treating immigrants (and it hasn't even been a century since we rounded up the Japanese and put them in interment camps simply because they were Japanese).

While I don't think these things have become serious yet, all governments and corporations would like to be able to control the population at large. It makes things easier for them. The fact that most Americans seem more worried about the legalization of gay marriage, marijuana, and abortion than the Patriot act or the governments attempts to circumvent our constitutional rights is absolutely pathetic.

soxfan849 : That's because most Americans are religious, so they would rather be concerned with issues that are an affront to their faith. It probably also has to do with everyone blowing it way out of proportion. Some common arguments against gay marriage are things like, "What next? Are we going to be able to marry kids next?! Dogs?!" That's why it's easy for seemingly insignificant problems to quickly escalate to a national concern. 
   On topic though, I think that most conspiracy theories like this are far fetched. They're either over-estimating current technology, or under-estimating the threat of terrorism. Theories such as this always play out the U.S. government as some sort of omnipotent global-oppressor, when in reality, there are for more oppressive countries that do horrific things you can't even imagine. North Korea for example (even if it is over-used). I appreciate the government's efforts in protecting the U.S. from attacks, but I'm not blind. I know some of the methods they use aren't pretty. But it all boils down to protecting the masses, which comes at a cost.

Sephitard9001 : Yeah, I understand why they're concerned about what it is that they find significant. I just don't really respect it, and wish people were more rational when it comes to their political priorities.

Also, while terrorism is certainly a real everyday threat, giving up our freedoms in exchange for protection makes it worthwhile (for the terrorists). Terrorism will never end when it accomplishes something. People are willing to kill and die for a message, especially when they know it's a guaranteed way to get people's attention. Personally, I'd rather die than give up freedom for protection. Most people disagree with me, however. It's not bad yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it gets much worse within my lifetime.