Controversial Operation TIPS appears dead

"perhaps" is correct.

I wonder if the corpse will twitch a few times yet before finally settling into the coffin.

"Controversial Operation TIPS appears dead"

BFD, so did the controversial "Know Your Customer" program.

They just waited a couple of months and then resurrected it under a different name.

Let's not get stupid over this.

LOL

I heard on Fox News, that they planned to keep all these "tips" in a data bank. We found out after 9-11, that all propaganda to the contrary, they do keep an illegal data base of arms purchases.

Whoever came up with this idea needs to appear dead as well.

Ya know....we COULD just throw a monkey wrench into the TIPS program. Simply volunteer for it....

Conservatives need to infiltrate this and other such examples of Big Brother Socialism with all due haste.

We need to take lessons from the masters - the Commies have infiltrated every aspect of American government, education and culture. They WANT freedom-loving people to get disgusted and withdraw. You can bet I'll be a TIPSter if/when the law is passed.

They just waited a couple of months and then resurrected it under a different name.

I am sad to say that you are 100% correct. The socialists never give up. They know that they may be shot down the first time, and the second time, and maybe the third time, but eventually the sheeple will get bored and stop paying attention...

Ya know....we COULD just throw a monkey wrench into the TIPS program. Simply volunteer for it, and then, call in with information about certain houses in your neighborhood. You know, the ones belonging to legislators, police, government employees, etc.

Just a thought...

Amazing... That was exactly my very FIRST thought the minute I read about it. If it does come into common usage, so many others will think of this and do it that the program will collapse. However, it will keep the gov/snoops busy running around in circles.

Think back to what was happening earlier this year. There were threads being posted by people saying they had seen a person taking photos of a reservoir, or of an airport, or of an atomic power plant. What would everyone here do? Tell them to notify law enforcement (be it local or the FBI).

What was TIPS? The same thing, but with an acronym name and probably a 1-800 number and a website. Yet it was demagogued to an amazing level.

Former Senator Robert A. Taft, known as the father of the "old right" (please ignore his RINO son, Governor Taft of Ohio), used to say that legislation should be judged not for the good it could do, but rather for the harm it could do. Maybe I am missing something, but I simply don't see the potential for abuse here that doesn't already exist. With TIPS someone could make a false claim against someone for dubious reasons? They can do that now.

The left jumped all over this because it fit right in on their ongoing efforts to demonize Bush and Ashcroft as being threats to civil liberties. The third party right joined in for the same reason. Meanwhile, a large percentage of conservatives said "I couldn't care less. I don't see the threat in this, but I don't see any great benefit either". The end result was that groups demagogued it, no substantial constituency rose up to defend it, and it died.

Bush's administration was stupid in proposing it. They should have been able to realize where the opposition would come from, and why, and they should have been able to realize that there was not going to be any particular base of support for it. But that stupidity was merely a political error. The TIPS program itself was inert, and the uproar over it a tempest in a teapot.

U.S. Overhauls Operation TIPS Plan
Sat Aug 10, 8:29 AM ET
By CHRISTOPHER NEWTON, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - A Bush administration proposal for a network of anti-terrorism tipsters is being overhauled, thanks to harsh criticism that it would encourage Americans to spy on one another.

The Operation TIPS program being instituted by the Justice Department ( news - web sites) initially was to have been launched this month. But on Friday, officials said it will not be put into effect until Congress returns in September. The idea is to allow time for consultation with lawmakers, they said.

In the meantime, the department modified the plan to exclude as would-be tipsters people from industries and government agencies that often have access to people's homes. The Terrorism Information and Prevention System (TIPS) will focus instead on workers who operate on the highways, such as truck drivers, and at the ports of entry, officials said.

The program came under heavy assault from civil libertarians and many in Congress, and the House passed a bill last month introduced by House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, that would prohibit it.

Justice officials said in June that utility companies, the Postal Service and trucking companies would be sought as possible participants. The goal was to offer a hot line people could call if during the course of their workday they noticed something suspicious that could be terrorist activity.

But the Postal Service balked at its inclusion and other industries also expressed reservations, saying they didn't want their workers looked at by customers as potential spies.

The Justice Department no longer is seeking the participation of the Postal Service or utility companies that work in homes.

"We are not going to target any company or industry that has workers that are going inside people's homes or working around people's homes," said a Justice Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official said the department is "absolutely discouraging" tips on activities from within people's homes.

Laura W. Murphy, director for the American Civil Liberties Union ( news - web sites), said Operation TIPS in any form is still a breach of public trust by the administration.

"They've scaled back Operation TIPS, but it is still an effort to enlist the private sector as government sanctioned peeping Toms," Murphy said. "And it is still not clear that the government is offering any guidance about how to respect people's civil liberties."

The Justice Department has not decided who will operate the hot line, but a likely choice is the National White Collar Crime Center. The organization is a nonprofit corporation of law enforcement agencies and state and local prosecution offices.

Good for now but knowing the government it will be promptly reintroduced with another name.