The Constitution got a bit of good news today as a judge invalidated W’s illegal wiretapping operation. This isn’t the end of the story, I suspect, as the decision is already under appeal. Bill Frist says: “Terrorists are the real threat to our constitutional and democratic freedoms, not the law enforcement and intelligence tools used…
Category: Privacy
W’s Use of Phone Records
Apparently there are more uses for Americans’ phone records than tracking down terrorists. I can’t say I’m surprised. This is exactly why this sort of data shouldn’t be accumulated by the government in the first place. Once these archives are in place, it’s incredibly easy for them to be misused. SQL, anyone? Today we’re backtracking…
Thanks, W…
…for doing your best to make sure that it’s a quarter-century before we have another Republican president. Illegally tapping phone calls of suspected terrorists wasn’t enough for you? You had to compile a database of calls made by everyday, ordinary citizens, too? That’s just what this country needed, I think, John Ashcroft with an Oracle…
This is the Funniest Thing I’ve Seen in a Long Time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Poindexter Expected to Quit – Hurray!
John Poindexter is expected to quit his position at the Pentagon over the ‘terrorism futures’ market flap. I never even heard about this issue, what with having a real job to do, but any reason to get rid of this Contra-gate alumn is a good one. Perhaps J.P.’s Total Information Awareness program will fall by…
Kid’s Info for Sale?
Does your school publish information about your child on-line, or in print, without informing you? More than likely, the answer is yes. More than likely, you don’t want them to. Ironically, the problem is not one of too much information. Just the opposite. School systems’ entire student database should be on-line and accessible by parents…
Big Brother is Coming
A couple of weeks back I posted a column regarding the erosion of individual privacy that is coming as a result of the war on terrorism. Read the L.A. Times take on the subject. I found their editorial to be ho-hum, never-mind-me evaluation of this issue. The threat to American citizens is real given the…
Legacy of 9/11: Big Brother
The Department of Homeland Security is coming. Will our privacy be destroyed under its heel? Student newspapers rarely have meaningful contents, but read Matt Chock’s essay in the Cornell Daily Sun on this subject. Consider also what the N.Y. Times has to say. Are you prepared to live under the microscope? Don’t think it can…
Ashcroft’s Constitution
The Houston Chronicle published a great editorial Sunday regarding the overzealous John Ashcroft’s plans to run roughshod over the constitution to pursue “enemy combatants”. The Chronicle doesn’t provide editorial content on-line, unfortunately. Even to a lay person, Ashcroft’s proposals are extreme and clearly infringe on the constitutional rights of American citizens. Nonetheless, it has fallen…