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US Lawmaker: RESTRICT Act does not target any individual user of VPN

wsj.com

22 points by freewizard 3 years ago · 11 comments

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vuln 3 years ago

Just like the PATRIOT Act “only” targeted terrorists. It was an “accident” and they didn’t “wittingly” mean to bulk collect US Citizens.

Everything the government touches goes to shit. They WILL ALWAYS abuse the power they obtain.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/americas-top-spy-james-clapper-mad...

https://apnews.com/article/business-33a88feb083ea35515de3c73...

Fuck these liars.

foxyv 3 years ago

Based on past performance, I do not believe them. They may as well have been winking and nudging their friends while saying this...

androidbishop 3 years ago

BS. Don't tell us your opinion or presumed intentions. Put it in the bill itself, which is broad enough to touch every technology that uses the internet.

more_corn 3 years ago

But it also COULD because it is overly broad. Vote it down and try again.

Perhaps take a look at the Unix philosophy of command line tool design. Do one thing, do it well.

sneak 3 years ago

The opinions of lawmakers is not relevant; the text of the law is.

  • singleshot_ 3 years ago

    Well, that’s not true.

    While it’s correct that the statutory language predominates in a question of construction, the first place that anyone would look to make an argument about how a statute should be interpreted is, in the absence of case law, to the legislative history of the bill including what the sponsors said their intent was at the time of the bill.

    Now, you are right insofar as a law that says “thou shalt not kill” is probably not going to get to the point where we are arguing about ambiguity. But to say the opinions of the lawmakers are not relevant is false.

    • Gabriel54 3 years ago

      This position is totally at odds with that of many members of the US Supreme Court.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Thomas https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textualism

      • singleshot_ 3 years ago

        No, because no one has yet taken the position that Supreme Court justices make arguments about how to interpret statutes. The opinions of lawmakers would of course have no relevance when a textual originalist was making a decision.

        However, my indisputable point remains and always will: the opinion of the lawmaker is not irrelevant. You may be able to point to a person to whom it is not relevant, and you may be able to argue about what relevant means (hint FRCP 401; and “relevance is a low bar”), and you may even dispute whether this interview counts as legislative history, but you will not be able to successfully dispute the relevance of legislative history.

Saris 3 years ago

Unless it very specifically says that in the bill, it could target individuals later on.

stuckinhell 3 years ago

Then put that explicitly in the bill, but they won't!

akomtu 3 years ago

WSJ is trying to whitewash the power grab of WH?

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