From: response Subject: homeland security --------------------------------------- HOMELAND SECURITY LAW HURTS NET PRIVACY --------------------------------------- Dramatic impact on computer and network security from Homeland Security Department creation. Bill gives the government a major role in securing operating systems, hardware and the Internet, including allowing for more police surveillance of the Net; punishing malicious computer hackers with up to life in prison; establishing a national clearinghouse for computer and network security work; and spending at least half a billion dollars a year for homeland security research. Technology companies praised the plan, which promises to be a cash cow for businesses that develop security products. news.com.com/2100-1023-966552.html The Justice Department’s Operation TIPS program, which would have enlisted tens of thousands of truckers, bus drivers and other workers as citizen spies, is explicitly prohibited in Homeland Security bill. washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31833-2002Nov23.html US Rep. Ron Paul’s view on the Homeland Security Department: The lesson learned from the rush to create a Homeland Security department is that the size and scope of government grows regardless of which party is in power. The federal government now devours 40% of the nation’s GDP, and a massive new department can only make things worse. The Homeland Security bill provides a vivid example of the uncontrolled spending culture in Washington, a culture that views the true source of political power - your tax dollars - as unlimited. house.gov/paul/tst/tst2002/tst112502.htm -------------------------------------- BIG BROTHER WILL BE WATCHING AMERICANS -------------------------------------- “[The Pentagon’s Total Information Awareness program] takes what had been in the realm of paranoid conspiracy theorists and puts it in the realm of a potential reality -- right here and now,” said Jody Patilla, a consultant for the highly-regarded digital security company @Stake. mg.co.za/Content/l3.jsp?a=13&o=12536 Was 1984 a how-to book for the US government? Polls show Americans regaining their skepticism of government and demanding that respect for civil liberties figure in anti-terrorist policies. But government officials do not appear to be paying attention. Instead, they seem to be pawing through a copy of 1984 with the idea of using George Orwell’s cautionary tale as a blueprint for an America of the future. free-market.net/spotlight/1984 Secret Burial for Bill of Rights: 4th Amendment R.I.P. The amendment, adopted by the convention of states on 17 September 1787, was 215 years old when it died on November 18. The 4th tirelessly fought to guarantee that “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” It is survived by 26 sibling amendments. The besieged 1st, 6th, and 14th amendments are also fighting for their lives. And the 2nd continues to be held hostage by special interests. counterpunch.org/norris1121.html Ruling for the first time in its history, the ultra-secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review today gave the green light to a Justice Department bid to broadly expand its powers to spy on U.S. citizens. “As of today the Attorney General can suspend the ordinary requirements of the Fourth Amendment in order to listen in on phone calls, read e-mails, and conduct secret searches of Americans’ homes and offices”, says ACLU spokesperson. aclu.org/Cyber-Liberties/Cyber-Liberties.cfm?ID=11332&c=58 ---------------------------------------- DESTRUCTION OF PRIVACY TO FIGHT “TERROR” ---------------------------------------- Paging Mr. Orwell: US government proposals erode privacy needlessly in the name of fighting terror. Fighting terrorism is a daunting challenge. But it must not become a pretext for the excessive secrecy and high-tech spying on citizens that are the hallmarks of a police state. philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/4551213.htm “What is under development here is a coordinated effort to pull together all the available data on every American who works, banks, buys on credit, purchases a firearm or sends an email on the Internet,” says computer security expert Allen Eagleton. “In most cases, the information is out there, available in widely-scattered databases. This is a massive effort to bring all this data together to build personal profiles on as many Americans as possible. The potential for such a system is enormous, it will allow someone to build a complete dossier on virtually any person in seconds.” capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_1109.shtml In the name of security, government curbs our privacy and rights. A paradox in the post-September 11 era is that people seem willing to accept government intrusions but not commercial ones, even though the government’s power is enormous and often wielded in secret, while consumers retain substantial control over their commercial information. nytimes.com/2002/11/24/weekinreview/24LIPT.html Influential Republican Senator Charles Grassley, of Iowa, requested a full review of the Defense Department’s Total Information Awareness program. “I am at a loss to understand why DOD resources are being spent on research for domestic law enforcement,” Grassley wrote. “In addition, to develop such a program in a vacuum from federal law enforcement seems to be asking for taxpayer dollars to be sent down the drain.” bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/politics/4585385.htm ------------------------------------- CAN ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING BE A CRIME? ------------------------------------- Employee wrongly arrested by the FBI due to a bank’s mistake won a $1.15 million award after a finding that Wells Fargo had made the mistake that led to her arrest. The issue was the mistaken non-filing of a cash transfer report. Story illuminates how the anti-money laundering frenzy has not only turned bankers into government spies, but subservient toadies who suck up in fright before the FBI. signonsandiego.com/news/business/20021119-9999_1b19wells.html For all the voluminous and very costly anti-money laundering laws, they actually accomplish very little. “Money Laundering is a Growth Industry” offshoreon.com/articles/3687.asp?docid=3687 ----------------------------------------------------- SECRET HISTORY OF FBI SURVEILLANCE, LEGAL AND ILLEGAL ----------------------------------------------------- They have broken into homes, offices, hotel rooms and automobiles. Copied private computer files. Installed hidden cameras. Listened with microphones in one couple’s bedroom for more than a year. Rummaged through luggage. Eavesdropped on telephone conversations. It’s the FBI, operating with permission from a secretive U.S. court in a high-stakes effort pitting the FBI against the world’s spies and terrorists. An FBI memo that recently surfaced said agents in early 2000 illegally videotaped suspects, intercepted e-mails without court permission and recorded the wrong phone conversations. foxnews.com/story/0,2933,71011,00.html ==================================================== Our Favorite Quotes ==================================================== "Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will. But rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law,' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual." --- Thomas Jefferson