US Senator Wyden: Why I had to halt FBI's latest internet spying push US Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has placed a hold on the 2017 Intelligence Authorization Bill – because it would allow the FBI to snoop on people's browser histories without a court order, and weakens oversight of the intelligence community. The bill as it stands would allow the Feds to use National Security Letters (NSLs) – which …
Apocryphally, US hucksters offer to sell the Brooklyn Bridge -- which they "happen to own" -- to just-off-the-boat Irishmen. The Irishmen are at first taken in, but later establish major business concerns and, when meeting their former tormentors on the street, graciously hand them a dollar and admonish them to "lift ye self up, laddie, and git off the dole".
Oh, and I cannot help but mention that I get to vote for Mr. Wyden. And I do.
Honestly, I can't tell you its actual origin, but it is doubtless based on the idea of a con man selling property that doesn't belong to him to unwitting victims. The result is a common theme, where one might say "If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you" or "I have some land [in Florida] to sell you". Whether we imported the saying from England, somewhere else, or it's home grown, I couldn't say. Could be as old as confidence tricks.
By offering to sell you multiple bridges Senator Wyden is suggesting the lie is particularly egregious.
Thanks all for the real explanation. A genuine question gets one DV and a fair few decent replies - I'll take that as a win.
@Jeffery W: "Whether we imported the saying from England, somewhere else, or it's home grown, I couldn't say."
Looks home grown to me judging by the responses. The London Bridge cobblers is probably bollocks anyway and I've never heard of anyone in Britain managing to flog (sell) a bridge like that, so 1:0 to the US there for sheer con audacity.
the "...i've got a bridge to sell you" joke goes back to the late 1800s when a famous con man and series of successors actually did sell the Brooklyn Bridge in New York.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_C._Parker
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/nyregion/thecity/for-you-half-price.html
"I think it's clear that this isn't really about giving law enforcement new powers, it's all about the fact that they don't want are too frikking lazy to do some paperwork,"
FTFY
They might have to do some work and have some evidence to show a judge "probable cause". They would rather avoid having to do that step at all.
Right - I think it's more the "probable cause" part that's motivating them to push for this than the paperwork. It's so much easier to just go on a fishing expedition (or worse) than it is to risk perjuring yourself in front of a judge. Kind of the point of having the judge in the equation, isn't it?
"Meanwhile, the US Department of Justice is attempting to grant the Feds fresh surveillance and hacking powers without a vote by politicians, using a procedural change to Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. "
Notice the same pattern happening in all of the 5 eyes countries. People close to the spooks are expanding the powers of spook'dom. i.e. they're building an empire of their power base.
Here its bad actors in the DOJ, in the UK its Farrs lot and his puppets.
It's very caveman like:
We right. You wrong. Judges side with you wrong, ECJ wrong, ECHR wrong, ug! ug! We save country from self by giving self secret super powers! Ug Ug!
Yet their "truths" are so weak they can't face challenge in the court system? Why is that? Perhaps its simply because they're not true at all.
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Don't be.
A data fetishist will use any crime to call for more snooping powers and less oversight regardless of the human tragedy or any signs it would not have made a blind bit of difference.
The real drivers for this are twofold.
1) Because we can. The cost of data storage and voice and text analysis is low enough the hard ware can do it and we (the data fetishists) want to. More data is always better data because of
2) In the words of Cardinal Richelieu "Give me 6 lines from an honest man and I'll find something with which to hang him."
These powers give those who want them so many more lines to read, and hence "crimes" to charge people with.
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