MML - Even the FBI gets their phones turned off if they don't pay their bills

[Langolas]

I find this humorous, especially since I work for a telecommunications company.

Read this! (http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/10/fbi.unpaid.phone.bills.ap/index.html?iref=mpstoryview)

[Darth Marley]

Those telcos should be hit with obstruction of justice charges.
Perhaps even treason in the case of the FISA warrant.

[Langolas]

Those telcos should be hit with obstruction of justice charges.
Perhaps even treason in the case of the FISA warrant.

We'll see what happens.

[Senmut]

There is a delicious irony, given all the phones the FBI has tapped in the past.

[Commander Taggart]

Those telcos should be hit with obstruction of justice charges.
Perhaps even treason in the case of the FISA warrant.

The FBI should pay its fucking bills on time, as well as pay some fucking attention to its books so their agents can't scamper off with $25K of MY FUCKING MONEY.

People want to know why faith in our antiquated, bloated, wholly exploitable system is wavering?

Jiminy H. Cricket.

The waste of MY FUCKING MONEY in this city makes me want to PUKE.

[Darth Marley]

That the FBI should pay its bills on time is a separate issue than that of a telco ignoring legal warrant.

Faith in the system is not something I would encourage.

But the idea that we only have to obey a legal order as long as the government pays us to do so sets up a dangerous precedent.

Nothing about holding the telcos to provision of essential service argues against punishing FBI embezzlers, or against the FBI improving their payables practices.

If a catastrophic event could have been prevented, but the telcos held back an intercept because they wanted to bitch about a past due bill, then they would have blood on their hands.
For no principle except greed.

What confidence can we have that the telcos obey the FCC if they don't obey a FISA warrant?

[Commander Taggart]

If a catastrophic event could have been prevented, but the telcos held back an intercept because they wanted to bitch about a past due bill, then they would have blood on their hands.

For no principle except greed.

That blood would be on the FBI's hands for being a slack-ass agency. If the FBI is routinely ignoring its bills, running up deficits with the telcos in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, then it could be argued that their shoddy practices are threatening the financial health of the telcos with whom they do business.

There's doing your duty to the government, and then there's being fucked over by it. No private enterprise should be crippled or put out of business because the government can't get its shit together.

If the FBI couldn't pay it's bills, than it would be incumbent upon the agency to contact the Telcos and explain that they're a little short of cash, or whatever, but the taps being run are in the interests of National Security... please don't disconnect them... the FBI is good for the money.

Just like me when I was dirt-poor in my twenties... when I couldn't pay a bill, I called. 9 times out of ten, I got an extension. When I ignored my situation, and left bills unpaid, I came home to find my electricity turned off.


What confidence can we have that the telcos obey the FCC if they don't obey a FISA warrant?Two separate issues.

[Darth Marley]

It is indeed two separate issues.

But I get the vibe that you would prefer to fix only one of them.

Why else argue that the FBI is harming the telcos by not paying?
No one is trying top let the FBI off the hook!

The telcos acting in a way that jeopardizes national security and the safety of the general public is both treasonous and reckless endangerment.

How about a hospital that neglects a few bills due to an administrative error, or even administrative incompetence?
Forget for the moment that they even have backup generators.

If cuttign off the electricity kills patients, are you still going to put it all on the hosital?

Or should the service provider have realized that they were going to get paid eventually, and they didn't need to risk lives to prove a point?

No one is suggesting that the FBI should be allowed to not pay.

But it is a separate issue regarding the telco's decision to just turn off the service.

Just as telephone service providers are required to provision a line for emergency calls even if the customer doesn't pay, the same reasoning should apply to FISA taps.

[Commander Taggart]

The article, indicates, Darth, that the FBI problem had grown chronic. If the hospital in question had a history of not paying its bills, or knew that it wasn't going to be able to pay its bills (and I believe hospitals hire people to track those sorts of things, as does the FBI), then, yes, it would be incumbent upon the hospital to ensure uninterrupted service.

I'm for fixing both issues, but not at once again seeing private enterprise steamrolled over by an unaccountable government. That $25K the agent made off with is only a molecule on the tip of the iceberg of the money that is wasted by our antiquated, bloated, exploitable, and largely unaccountable system.

The FBI needs to fucking pay it's bills, and the telcos need to provide the service for which they are being paid. Then there's no problem, right?

[Darth Marley]

Okay, so now taht we agree that they are two separate issues, and both should be fixed, in the grand scheme of things, which is more important;

Stopping a life threatening attack.

Or
Paying bills on time.

I have to go with the emphasis on the counter-terrorism work.

[Commander Taggart]

Okay, so now taht we agree that they are two separate issues, and both should be fixed, in the grand scheme of things, which is more important;

Stopping a life threatening attack.

Or
Paying bills on time.

I have to go with the emphasis on the counter-terrorism work.

What do you think? :rolleyes:

The FBI should pay its fucking bills.