Heh.

[hummingwolf]

So, most of you know a little something about the Information Awareness Office and their plans for Total Information Awareness by now. You know that the office (headed by Admiral John Poindexter, who did so well with Iran-Contra) wants to develop a humongous database tracking everything there is to know about you and every move you make on the Internet.

Well, skimming through sos_usa, I learned of an interesting opinion piece from 1997 written by a United States Senator who objected to policies proposed by the Clinton administration regarding the Internet and use of encryption technology.

The senator wrote:

There is a concern that the Internet could be used to commit crimes and that advanced encryption could disguise such activity. However, we do not provide the government with phone jacks outside our homes for unlimited wiretaps. Why, then, should we grant government the Orwellian capability to listen at will and in real time to our communications across the Web?

The protections of the Fourth Amendment are clear. The right to protection from unlawful searches is an indivisible American value. Two hundred years of court decisions have stood in defense of this fundamental right. The state's interest in effective crime-fighting should never vitiate the citizens' Bill of Rights.

And there's more where that came from. Things like, "Every medium by which people communicate can be subject to exploitation by those with illegal intentions. Nevertheless, this is no reason to hand Big Brother the keys to unlock our e-mail diaries, open our ATM records, read our medical records, or translate our international communications." Which is, of course, precisely what TIA is supposed to do. Wondering which senator wrote this and where they are now? Go see who the author was.

Comments

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Neither was I. Mostly things like this remind me why I usually side with whichever party isn't currently in charge.

Re:

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

I generally vote Democratic, and think they're slightly less damaging to the commonweal than the Republicans. But I prefer Coke over Pepsi and know there's little distinguishing difference.