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BushwhackedBy Steve Kunysz
“Privacy no longer can mean anonymity. Instead, it should mean that government and businesses properly safeguard people's private communications and financial information”, says Donald Kerr, the principal deputy director of national intelligence. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of this great nation said, “Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both”. There you are. Two completely different views, one from our beginning as a country, the other representing the current administration. What is being defined, what is truly at issue is precisely this: What is an American today. During the war of 1812 this country was invaded, even the Whitehouse was burned. But we as a nation prevailed, fighting, and some dying, to preserve the freedoms that defined this great land. We fought a terrible, bloody Civil War, and still those freedoms were seen as worth dying for. World Wars I and II brought a new terror to the world and the loss of many millions of lives, yet they were necessary to protect the freedoms we, as Americans, viewed as imperative to the survival of our country. On September 11, 2001 we were attacked by terrorists who had declared war on the U.S. If robbing us of our freedoms, if taking away our mantle of moral leadership in the world was their goals, the on September 11, 2001, the terrorists won. Mr. Kerr’s statement quoted above was made during testimony given recently to congress as they are looking at possible changes to FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The law as originally passed in 1978 required a court order for any surveillance conducted on U.S. soil. This was changed this past summer to allow the government to listen to communications of U.S. citizens as long as one end of the conversation was reasonably believed to be outside of the U.S. The Whitehouse is demanding that FISA be changed to grant immunity to the telecommunications companies the provided government access to the private conversations and e-mails of their customers WITHOUT A COURT ORDER from 2001 to the recent change in the law. As a country, as a people, we have been defined by our freedoms and by our determination to be a nation of law, not rulers. The Senate Judiciary Committee, facing a promised presidential veto if the immunity is not granted, is expected to decide this week if the telecommunications companies will be protected or not. With the committees last decision still quite fresh in mind (their approval of the new Atty. General), I have pretty much no doubt that they will cave in again and grant the immunity demanded. As a Union we have fought the off shoring of call centers, data processing companies and customer service units, always bringing up the “security” issue. Getting shot down by members of congress again and again. So what does Mr. Kerr use as an argument for his new view of “privacy” of communications? Mr. Kerr said in October that he finds it odd that people would be concerned about the eavesdropping by the government when they are "perfectly willing for a green-card holder at an [Internet service provider] who may or may have not have been an illegal entrant to the United States to handle their data." Well, let’s see what congress does. I can hardly wait. |
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© 2006 CWA LOCAL 9400 |
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