A thick thread in the current agenda of the American left is the "Big Brother" meme. The feds are thought to be scrutinzing everything we do, malevolently spying on ordinary citizens and ethnic minorities under the guise of anti-terrorism and homeland security, thus threatening our constitutional rights. The collapse of the very Republic may be at hand.
And so, as TechNewsWorld reports:
A group that defends civil liberties on the Internet has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to determine if the government is secretly gathering information on the surfing habits of citizens.In a copy of the FOIA obtained by TechNewsWorld, the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said, "Although Internet users reasonably expect that their online reading habits are private, the DOJ will not confirm whether it collects or believes itself authorized to collect URLs using pen-trap devices."
"Pen registers" or "trap and trace devices" are technologies used by law enforcement agents to collect numbers dialed on a telephone or e-mail and IP addresses.
"The DOJ has refused to answer the public's very simple question: 'Can the government see what I'm reading on the Web without having to show probable cause?' Yet the public's interest in an answer to that question, which implicates the most profound constitutional rights, is inestimable," the EFF FOIA asserted.
At least the reporter used the word "asserted." I believe the public's interest in the question is very estimable, and I estimate that interest to be very low. While groups such as the EFF and the ACLU get a lot of mileage in the press from finding a conspiracy of intrusiveness under every rock they turn up, ordinary people realize if they aren't doing anything illegal on their telephones and computers, they have nothing to worry about.
If the FBI decides it wants to come visit me because, let's just say, hypothetically speaking here, I have done a Google Search for "FBI+anti-terrorism+surveillance+strategies," you know what? I'll deal with it. But having checked out my background before they come calling, they'll probably NOT come calling in the first place. Yet if I did the same Google search and was a Saudi Arabian student in the U.S. on a temporary visa, I might get "interviewed." Or, if I was frequenting web sites of Muslim extremist groups, or found to be posting jihadist screeds on same, I might get interviewed, charged and hauled into court.
No one should have any problem with any of this.
The enemy is not our domestic law enforcement apparatus, and the probem is not their latitude in surveillance. The enemy, and the problem, is radical Islam. Self-important "digital rights watchdog" groups like the EFF too rarely seem to grok that.
Posted by Matt Rosenberg at January 20, 2005 09:37 AM
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As you say, if the FBI comes calling, you'll deal with it, but at what cost? And how long will it take you to deal with it? I'm wondering if you read the series in the Seattle Times about Capt. Yee. Turns out he didn't do anything wrong, either. I guess you can say, "Well it was an honest mistake and that's the price of liberty." It's not a price I'd be willing to pay and doubt if you would either. The Fourth Amendment isn't just a get out of jail free card for criminals. It's supposed to shield citizens from unreasonable government intrusions. So sorry, but I have a big problem with it.
Posted by: Steve at January 20, 2005 05:14 PMI have a couple posts that probably add fuel to the fire in both camps on this.
My site ranks #1 in Bomb help: http://blog.joehuffman.org/archive/2005/01/18/965.aspx
Counter intelligence wants my log file: http://blog.joehuffman.org/archive/2005/01/19/981.aspx
Posted by: Joe Huffman at January 21, 2005 09:40 PM