You're being watched

When it comes to snooping on Americans, Big Brother has a lot more gadgets at his disposal.

In its new study, "Bigger Monster, Weaker Chains: The Growth of an American Surveillance Society," the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) blames the unchecked use of technological tracking features for an increase in surveillance by both the government and the private sector.

"The explosion of computers, cameras, sensors, wireless communications, GPS (Global Positioning System) biometrics and other technologies in just the last 10 years is feeding a surveillance monster that is growing silently in our midst," the authors wrote.

Story Link - news.com.com...

Program could gather information without probable cause U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold has announced that he will introduce a bill cutting off money for further development of the electronic data-mining, Total Awareness Program (TIA) being proposed by the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security.

The controversial data-mining process has been harshly criticized by civil liberties groups who call it a direct encroachment on individual liberties, cloaked in the name of terror-fighting.

Story Link - usgovinfo.about.com...

Originally posted by deepwaters
being proposed by the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security.

Since when could departments even PROPOSE! legislation? Billing stuff is confined to the House, more evidence of the constitution being sh.itted upon.

Sincerely,
no signature

(ACLU Press Release) SAN FRANCISCO � The United States has now reached the point where a total �surveillance society� has become a realistic possibility, the American Civil Liberties Union warned in a report being released today. �Many people still do not grasp that Big Brother surveillance is no longer the stuff of books and movies,� said Barry Steinhardt, Director of the ACLU�s Technology and Liberty Program and a co-author of the report. �Given the capabilities of today�s technology, the only thing protecting us from a full-fledged surveillance society are the legal and political institutions we have inherited as Americans,� he added. �Unfortunately, the September 11 attacks have led some to embrace the fallacy that weakening the Constitution will strengthen America.�

The ACLU said that its report, Bigger Monster, Weaker Chains: The Growth of an American Surveillance Society, is an attempt to step back from the daily march of stories about new surveillance programs and technologies and survey the bigger picture. The report argues that even as surveillance capacity grows like a �monster� in our midst, the legal �chains� needed to restrain that monster are being weakened. The report cites not only new technology but also erosions in protections against government spying, the increasing amount of tracking being carried out by the private sector, and the growing intersection between the two.

�From government watch lists to secret wiretaps � Americans are unknowingly becoming targets of government surveillance,� said Dorothy Ehrlich, executive director of the ACLU of Northern California. �It is dangerous for a democracy that government power goes unchecked and for this reason it is imperative that our government be made accountable.�

A recent illustration of the danger, according to the ACLU report, is the Pentagon�s Total Information Awareness (TIA) program, which seeks to sift through a vast array of databases full of personal information in the hunt for terrorism. �Even if TIA never materializes in its current form,� Steinhardt said, �what this report shows is that the underlying trends are much bigger than any one program or any one controversial figure like John Poindexter.�


Link - www.guerrillanews.com...

Citizens often say that if you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to worry about.

Don't you feel that these people are just a touch too trusting of a government that they have no control over?



[Edited on 6-2-2003 by AZLS1]

Ok, we give up...you caught us.

Now, give me your ID card.

Originally posted by MT69
Ok, we give up...you caught us.

Now, give me your ID card.

accept MT youre nothing but a poser who wants to be one of those MIBs you saw on x-files.

XAOS

This fly won't go away! We think we've killed it and it always comes back. My whole family is noticing this dam thing. Just venting....

Could you please elaborate.........