On Trusting Government to do the Right Thing
Trusting our government to do the right thing has been a theme this week. Robert Cringely sounds off on the Total Information Awareness Act being proposed to gather intelligence on terrorists. The problems, of course, are whether it will make us safer or will it be abused by the government. Cringely also points out that much of the technology that has already been deployed is vulnerable to being owned by the bad guys.
An MIT student has countered this ever growing need by government, corporations, and other organizations, to compromise constitutional protections. He's created the Government Information Awareness website where much information is collected, aggregated, stored, and made available to anyone. Here is there mission statement, "To empower citizens by providing a single, comprehensive, easy-to-use repository of information on individuals,
organizations, and corporations related to the government of the United States of America. To allow citizens to submit intelligence about government-related issues, while maintaining their anonymity. To allow members of the government a chance to participate in the process."
Last Sunday the Denver Post published two editorials on the unintended consequences of the Patriot Act on individual freedom. The first editorial was written by Ari Kelman [July 6, 2003, "Civil liberties vulnerable in past"] and deals with the ebb and flow of US policy over years and the balancing act between individual freedom and group security. Says Kelman, "This legislation, among its many far-reaching provisions, provides law-enforcement officials with greatly expanded powers to wiretap, read e-mail, conduct searches, deport non-citizens accused of associating with terrorists - as defined by the federal government - and detain non-citizens (even those not being accused of having terrorist ties) without formally leveling charges."
The Second editorial [July 6, 2003, "Protect our freedom to read"], authored by Patircia Schroeder, calls for more protection for individuals and their reading preferences at libraries and bookstores. Writes Schroeder, "Although much has been said and written about the government using the Patriot Act to make an end-run around the First and Fourth amendments, public attention is just beginning to focus on one of the act's more outrageous provisions. The Patriot Act gives the FBI access to public-library circulation and Internet-use records and bookstore-purchase records on the mere hint they might be 'relevant' to an investigation."
So on the heels of these writers warning us comes the Nigerian yellowcake events that have been unfolding over the past few weeks currently at the stage where the White House is hoping that George Tenet's claim of responsibility Friday will bring an end to the controversy. Josh Marshall has been on this story from the start. Here's his latest musings. Also taking an antagonistic view of the situation is Steve Gilliard on the Daily Kos website.
8:09:19 PM 
|
|
