Comments
by Scoper...
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad
Web-Wolf?
I am. And I'm as law-abiding
as anyone I know. You probably are, too. So, am I paranoid? Possibly. Should
you be as well? That's a decision only you can make for yourself. Me, I
have a question. Why is the FBI interested in my private e-mail? And yours?
They are, you know. A recently-developed program called "Carnivore" allows
the Feds to read any and all of it they choose.
Here's the layman's explanation
of Carnivore (best I can do, because while I can use a computer and drive
a car, I couldn't fix either one if it had a major breakdown.) It's surveillance
software which, when attached to an Internet Service Provider, allows Government
Agents to sift through each and every e-mail message that passes through
it. They say it's used to catch drug smugglers, kiddie-porn purveyors,
terrorists and other scalawags. So what's wrong with that? Plenty.
First, it violates the Fourth
Amendment to the Constitution (the one about unreasonable search and seizure.)
Law officers can't search your home or other personal property without
a warrant (which is quite easy to obtain, but requires a judge's signature
and must specify the place to be searched.) If you hate discrimination,
you'll love Carnivore: it lets them read everything.
The "gendarmes" don't even
need Carnivore to do their jobs. Telephone companies, and certainly the
U.S. Postal Service, freely hand over information on specific calls and
letters when demanded by federal law enforcement. ISP's, by law, must do
the same. The difference is, the Law must specify what it's looking for.
Now, suddenly, it doesn't.
Now, Jay Whitehead writes
for MSNBC that Carnivore is "…a necessary evil. And, just like a police
search of your home or a wiretap of your phone, the FBI can use Carnivore
only with a judge's permission." Bull feathers, Mr. Whitehead. That was
never the government's intention, and you know it. The government grows
more panicky by the day over the Internet's decentralized freedom of expression.
It's a multi-billion dollar consumer industry that they've yet to tax.
What's even worse, it allows "half-baked, semi-illiterate" writers like
me (see this recent "Dept.
of Huh?" column by Bob Brandon to "get details")
to express their opinions and philosophy with no interference. This drives
certain fascist wannabes a little bit crazy.
Think of the mindset that
one must have to be a Federal agent in the first place. Do you really think
that he or she will be bound by the Constitution when there's a "greater
purpose" to be served? Or that your individual rights, or mine, will be
carefully safeguarded when they have a chance at "the big collar?"
Assuming "The Man" is only
interested in the tiny fraction of people using the Web for their own nefarious
purposes, those are the very people who will be difficult, if not impossible,
to catch. They'll encrypt everything, and change URL's and ISP's more often
than we change our socks. What's more, the underground hacker community
will be only too happy to crack the Carnivore code, rendering the "sniffer"
useless in tracking down the Lex Luthors of the world. It will continue
to be extremely effective, though, in keeping tabs on what you and I write
to our friends, family and everyone else.
But why should that matter?
We're law-abiding, right? Yes, but this goes beyond the law. The government
doesn't have to arrest you to give you a hard time. Nixon had his "enemies
list." You may not believe the Clinton Administration has used the IRS
to harass political "dissidents," but there are many credible people who
can prove otherwise.
Do you think Ralph Nader
has a good message? Harry Browne? Patrick Buchanan? In the major party
hierarchy, that puts you in the role of supporting a "spoiler." Both the
Democratic and Republican leaderships would like your name in their database,
if only to keep up with you and your thoughts.
OK, now I'm back to "paranoia."
But I ask you to consider this, if only hypothetically: you can be "targeted"
for persecution - even in this country - for expressing an ideology that
goes against "conventional thought" (the ideas of the elected and appointed
elite.) The Internet bugs the hell out of these people. How do you control
something that has no headquarters?
They are trying, and they
will continue to try. And the Constitution means nothing to them; it's
simply an obstacle to be pushed out of the way. This is not a "call to
action." It's a call to raise your head and look around you. If you'll
do that, I'll welcome your e-mails
telling me what a fool I am.
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