FBI broke law for years in phone record searches

I remember being in 8th grade in 2004 and writing an essay arguing that the FISA courts were antithetical to our notions of liberty, even if they didn't actually break the law. Little did I know that FISA warrants were the least of my worries.

I must confess I was incredibly amused every time they used "technically violated", "technical violation" or other euphemisms for breaking the law. They either followed the law or they broke it and should face the appropriate punishment (if any).

It just strikes me like the author is trying to minimize the impact by appealing to the use of technicality as "only appealing to a specialist" or in this case some "legalist". It's a disservice to the protection of civil liberties by minimizing the importance of crimes committed against said liberties.

As unfortunate as the situation may be, wiretapping/spying/searching will probably always happen at high levels of government regardless of the law. I don't know of any way to stop it, or that it's even possible to see if it would subsequently have been stopped.

I'm sure this kind of thing is rare.~

who will watch the watchmen