Is "Big Brother" on his way??

[Guest Frank Zappa Mask]

from www.drudgereport.com

 

 

 

 

 

ACLU report: U.S. heading toward Big Brother society

 

By DAVID KRAVETS

AP Legal Affairs Writer

 

 

Spurred by loosened legal standards following the 2001 terrorist attacks, the United States is evolving into a Big Brother society as technology advances and surveillance grows, the American Civil Liberties Union warned in a report released Wednesday.

 

The report, titled "Bigger Monster, Weaker Chains: The Growth of an American Surveillance Society," says Americans' privacy and liberty are at risk.

 

"A combination of lightning-fast technological innovations and the erosion of privacy protections threatens to transform Big Brother from an oft-cited but remote threat into a very real part of American life," the report says.

 

The report is a wide-ranging briefing on technology, privacy rules and new laws being employed in the government's war on terrorism.

 

"The reasonable expectation of privacy has been dramatically diminished," Barry Steinhardt, an ACLU director, said in an interview.

 

The report says a growing "surveillance monster" is emerging in which the private and the public sector are monitoring Americans with video cameras to the extent that it is becoming almost impossible to walk the streets of major cities without being filmed.

 

Yet there are virtually no rules governing what is allowed to be done with those tapes, like employing face-recognition technology to investigate and identify people.

 

Also, computer chips used for motorists' tollbooth speed passes might one day be used on identification cards to allow police officers to "scan your identification when they pass you on the street," the report says.

 

The study points to the Total Information Awareness pilot project, in which the Pentagon is seeking to maintain a database of Americans' medical, health, financial, tax and other records. Yet there are few privacy laws to prevent businesses from selling the government such information, Steinhardt said.

 

"If we do not act to reverse the current trend, data surveillance - like video surveillance - will allow corporations or the government to constantly monitor what individual Americans do every day," the report says.

 

Moreover, under the Patriot Act, the anti-terrorist legislation passed by Congress immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks, the government can demand that libraries turn over reading habits of patrons. Authorities can more easily attain telephone and computer wiretaps, and conduct searches in secret without immediately notifying the target.

 

Viet Dinh, an assistant U.S. attorney general and one of the government's spokesmen on security topics, said in a recent interview that the Bush administration would not abuse these far-reaching powers.

 

"I think security exists for liberty to flourish and liberty cannot exist without order and security," Dinh said.

 

New rules, the report notes, reinstate the FBI's ability to spy on Americans even when no crime is suspected and allows authorities to share with prosecutors information obtained via search warrants granted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court. Under FISA court rules, Americans are not protected by the bread-and-butter legal standard of probable cause - prosecutors need only say the search will assist a terror probe.

 

"It is not just the reality of government surveillance that chills free expression and the freedom that Americans enjoy," the report says. "The same negative effects come when we are constantly forced to wonder whether we might be under observation."

 

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On the Net:

 

Read the report at:

 

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Editors: David Kravets has been covering state and federal courts for a decade.

[Guest Mad Dog]

If your not doing anything wrong then the government won't bother you.

[Guest NoCalMike]

If your not doing anything wrong then the government won't bother you.

Yes, but define "doing something wrong" That in itself could change the way we feel about this issue. WHat is ok today, might be considered, "terrorist suspicious" tommorow

[Guest snuffbox]

George Orwell becomes more of a genius everyday. Hard to argue against the US becoming a surveliance state when it openly admits to the Pentagon file cabinet of EVERYONE.

 

Yeah, pal, if ur not doing anything wrong, itll be ok. Riiiight Im finding some inherant loss of freedom when my government is recording ever move i make, every purchase, every travel.

 

Im very, very ashamed that the 3000+ people that died on Sept 11 2001 died in complete vain, as the tragedy has become absolutely nothing more than a vehicle for increased government power in the US.

 

Bush couldnt even capture Osama bin Laden...and now hes desperate to find some reason to attack Iraq. Of course North Korea is literally brandishing weapons, but of course they dont have the oil reserves there.

 

This entire thing, post 911, is embarrasing to any real, patriotic American, anyone who actually still believes in the 'land of the free' of our forefathers and veterans.

[Guest Mad Dog]

Your a little paranoid there.

 

What all the stuff they went to court was about making a database to put all of this stuff into. Therefore they could streamline the whole process of gathering it together and act quicker.

 

They still have to get a warrant from a judge to use it. And they're only doing this for SUSPECTED terrorists. Not trivial little college student me.

 

And it's extremely easy to track someone's credit card records.

[Guest Dopey]

It's just one step closer to the NEW WORLD ORDER.

 

The horror. the horror...

[Guest Brian]

No not Hogan. And Hall. And Nash. Someone shoot me now before they start recruiting.

[Guest So what? I liked bubble boy]

It's just one step closer to the NEW WORLD ORDER.

 

The horror. the horror...

True true, True true

[Guest SP-1]

You know, Bubble Boy, I keep coming across threads where it almost seems like, "Dopey posted, I should too."

 

At any rate: It is rather discouraging to see this country heading towards this kind of thing. While I, personally, haven't paid much attention, I also don't doubt that there are more cameras and such around than is readily apparent.

 

Strange times.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

"May you live in interesting times."-Ancient Chinese Curse