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Governor seeks to expand wiretapping
By adamg on Tue, 01/06/2009 - 5:27pm
Gov. Patrick has released proposed legislation for finding and punishing corrupt public officials - proposal calls for expanding state wiretapping (currently limited to organized-crime investigations). Good thing or not?
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Comments
Much better than another
Much better than another so-called ethics reform. I wonder how much the winning wiretap contractor will have to distribute in kick backs?
hmmm....
The Commission was made up of a lot of knowledgeable heavy hitters in the realm of government and public ethics, and assuming there was strong consensus in support of these recommendations, I'd tend to be deferential to the Report.
However, the wiretapping provision makes me uneasy. In this town, I think there's a lot of ways in which info obtained by wiretap could be misused, and so I'd want to limit that tool only to the most serious situations, such as organized crime and legitimate terrorism & nat'l security risks.
I'd like to hear from the Mass. Civil Liberties Union on that point!
-David
Ditto, and I'm confused
Don't they already have the authority to wiretap anyone, as long as there's a warrant?
If so, is this change about giving that authority directly to LEOs, without judicial approval?
If so, have they had trouble getting that judicial approval in the past?
Never mind
Jay, Massachusetts has been more restrictive on the use of wiretaps than other states and the fed govt. But I just read the section of the report recommending the expanded powers, and the proposal puts Massachusetts in conformity with the prevailing standard. It makes sense.
I had feared (umm, concededly based only on the bullet point summary on the Commission's website) that maybe they let themselves get carried away due to all the bad publicity about political corruption. But after looking at the report itself, it's clear they did their homework.
Pam Wilmot, director of Common Cause/Massachusetts and a super smart thorn in the side of the good ol' boy (and girl) establishment, was a member of the Commission, which is a good sign.
-David
Thanks for doing the research
I feel better based on you feeling better.
So......
Extended wiretapping is the way to investigate corrupt officials? There's too much potential for abuse there, folks. If an official's phone can be tapped at random, who's to say that average, ordinary citizens aren't vulnerable to that sort of thing? It could really get out of hand.
Swing first, ask questions later--that's the name of the game.