Freeper Logic: "If the phone tapped is in germany, FISA doesnt apply..."

... even if the other end of the call is in the USA"

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

then using the FISA law is okay right?

Germany is not one of the US states. It's a common misunderstandig among freepers that the whole world belongs to the USA (understatement).

It seems that it is entirely permissible under US law to tap a call originating outside the US without warrant (subject of course to other limitations in US law). There isn't even anything in US law prohibiting them from making the itercept within the border's of another soveriegn nation, though of course those nations themselves may have something to say on the matter.

It all comes under the heading of espionage and a whole swag of different rules apply.

It seems that the big sticking point is when at least one of the parties to the communication is an "innocent American". AND FISA laws give a 72 hour grace period to include "non-innocent Americans" if they prove to be "persons of interest".

One thing that seems to be abundantly clear, is that the pResident has broken the law by authorising wiretaps outside the FISA system.

that in reality the spying is done WITHIN the US borders (through ECHELON) and not abroad. If there is a serious case the person tapped outside would be probably "turned over" by the authorities of that country. It would be very impractical to tap outside the US except in some very specific cases. Probably the standard case is that Germans or French monitor somebody and if it's serious pass their information to the US (like in the Moussaoui case). No country is keen of having their citizens under surveillance by another countries, unless it's question of a joint effort.

Anyway the problem is the monitoring of US citizens. Imagine the terrorist calling the wrong number ! Even worse putting that into system into calling chosen persons (even key persons) and sending them a fake but plausible message. Imagine the paranoia, the mess it would create....

Talk about an oxymoron.