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Petraeus and Privacy: Did We Overreact?

Posted on November 22, 2012July 1, 2025 by Dissent

For a different perspective on the Petraeus-Broadwell-Kelley-Allen case, read Derek Bambauer’s blog post on Info/Law.  Here’s a snippet:

I’ll be candid: the privacy community has a growing tendency to cry wolf. That is fine for advocates, but it risks conflating real issues and threats (warrantless wiretapping, use of drones domestically, surveillance for national security purposes domestically) with sensational but meaningless media events. The privacy fears in the Petraeus case boil down to two objections. First, many (including Google and others) think that the current federal wiretapping statute (the Electronic Communications Privacy Act) is outdated. Consider its weird 6-month rule for access to e-mail: under 6 months, get a warrant; over 6 months, a subpoena is enough. ECPA reform is entirely sensible, but law enforcement can hardly be accused of violating privacy when they carefully follow the laws as written. If you want the laws changed, that’s an entirely different claim – it’s normative, not descriptive. Distinguish the world you want from the world you live in.

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Category: MiscSurveillanceU.S.

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