You Are a Suspect

NY TIMES via Drudge ^ | william safire

[DAnconia55]

You Are a Suspect
By WILLIAM SAFIRE

ASHINGTON — If the Homeland Security Act is not amended before passage, here is what will happen to you:
Every purchase you make with a credit card, every magazine subscription you buy and medical prescription you fill, every Web site you visit and e-mail you send or receive, every academic grade your receive, every bank deposit you make, every trip you book and every event you attend — all these transactions and communications will go into what the Defense Department describes as "a virtual, centralized grand database."

[steve-b]

So you're saying that the legitimately elected government is the same as "Big Brother."

Here we see an example of the demagogic mindset which the Founders correctly associated with "democracy", a system of government they explicitly rejected for that reason.

[OXENinFLA]

Main web site for this 1984 hell in the making.....


http://www.darpa.mil/iao/

[JoeMomma]

Bush will be suceeded by Bush (Jeb) so there's nothing to worry about.

That's not a given. Therefore we can't give any President powers that are easily abused.

[JoeMomma]

It's time to stop deluding ourselves that Republicans favor a smaller, less intrusive government.

But ... WE ARE AT WAR! SUSPEND THE CONSTITUTION! /sarcasm

[dirtboy]

Here's what I've figured out so far. The House version of the Homeland Security bill is H.R. 5005. I searched the bill on Thomas for "transaction","credit card" and "total information awareness" and did not get a hit, so I don't think that H.R. 5005 does what Safire is claiming. I know the Patriot Act contains these provisions:

The act requires any enterprise or “person engaged in a trade or business” to (without notifying the client) report transactions (or a structured series of related transactions) involving $10,000 or more in U.S. or foreign currency. At minimum, such identification will include the name, address and “such other information as the Secretary of the Treasury may require” from the provider of the cash, including the source of the information provided and the nature of the transaction. The “structuring” requirement means that enterprises must report all events that might be attempts to violate the law.

So that damage was done last year.

I'll keep looking - the language could well be buried somewhere.

[dirtboy]

all these transactions and communications will go into what the Defense Department describes as "a virtual, centralized grand database."

I think that Safire is adding 2 + 2 to get five here. That language is related to DARPA, and DARPA is not even mentioned in HR 5005. The government envisions such a database to investigate terrorist networks. But no such critter exists yet, and I don't think the technology is there yet. The Defense Department Authorization allocates funds to DARPA to encourage research towards such a database. But, IMO, the Homeland Security Bill as passed by the House does NOT contain legal provisions to authorize the government to collect ALL credit card transaction data (as opposed to the $10,000+ threshhold established by the Patriot Act, of which the vast majority of businesses in this country are NOT aware, so the feds have extended the deadline for implementation).

[antidisestablishment]

You know, much of these initiatives were proffered under X42 and conservatives everywhere were wildly opposed. Does anyone remember the "know your customer," National ID cards, medical records databases, etc. etc. etc? IN 1998 and 99 when X42's reign of terror was still in full swing, there were a bunch of conspiracy threads regarding Clinton's third term. Now, disregarding the tinfoil, I can't help but wonder at how many of their "paranoid" fantasies have come true:

• Massive terrorist attacks on US soil
• Credible threats of WMD
• Unimaginable increase in federal powers
• Wholesale willing forfeiture of civil rights
• Roundup of gun owners
• Massive illegal immigration
• Continuing destruction of American industry and economy

Yes, we are at “war” with an enemy who is more despicable than any we have faced. Yes, we face threats unimaginable decades ago. Yes, police and defense agencies require commensurate powers to overcome technological advances of criminals. Yes, we have the most trustworthy armed forces and police agencies in the world.

But, nothing can give politicians, police or defense agencies license to overthrow our Constitution. The rights enshrined therein are not given by agency; they are not even a consequence of citizenship; they are not a privilege granted by chance or effort. They are the birthright of every living human being. They are the constituent elements of humanity itself.

No individual or agency has the power to restrict, rescind, or in any way transfer these rights. Any American who suggests a “temporary” laying aside of rights is a traitor to our Republic and an enemy to man and God. Our soldiers and our officials have sworn to uphold these truths and to fight against any enemy, foreign or domestic, who would attack these principles. Those who breech this oath are cowards and traitors.

We can win this “war” without resorting to draconian* measures. Our founding fathers established a Republic that was capable of self-governance—even in times of war. The only way to save her is to return to those principles on which she was founded. All three branches of government have departed from their proper courses. We will not restore sanity and safety by speeding up; we need to turn around.

Our freedoms have not aided the attacks on America. The enemies of freedom are institutional lethargy, the criminal negligence of executive officers and the apathy of the American people. The measures now being promoted as a cure are no more than an acceleration of the very malady.

You who defend such garbage deserve the world which you would build. As for me and my house, we will serve God and our country. And we will fight you tooth and nail.

* For those lacking an historic perspective, Draco was a tyrant who usurped the Athenian constitution through wildly restrictive laws to restore "security." Never has a term been more appropriate!

[steve-b]

You know, much of these initiatives were proffered under X42 and conservatives everywhere were wildly opposed.

All the more indication that the current terrorist threat is simply being used as an excuse for the entrenched bureaucracy (which stays more or less the same as 'Pubs and 'Rats come and go) to do what it always wanted to do anyway.

[ContemptofCourt]

Th bill passed was HR 5710

[dirtboy]

DARPA is not even mentioned in the Homeland Security Bill. What they are envisioning is creating models similar to those already used by marketing organizations, except to search for terrorists instead of likely responders. Discarding the obvious constitutional and privacy problems for the moment, four problems exist:

No database technology exists yet that can handle that load of information in anything resembling real-time.

As the petabyte data storage world emerges (kilo,mega,giga,tera,peta, so a petabyte is a quadrillion bytes), data hygiene is the most pressing underlying issue, and IMO the government would not be able to get the data into a usable, linkable format, even if they were authoritzed to gather it .

I don't think they are authorized to gather that data, and I doubt Americans would allow government to go that far.

The government provide during the sniper investigation that they could not adequately use a gigabyte investigative database. What on earth makes them think that, even if the technology were there, that they could effectively use a database several million times larger than the sniper database?

[dirtboy]

Th bill passed was HR 5710

Thanks. Went back to Thomas and did the same search - did not get any hits with 5710. IMO, Safire is jumping the gun here with his claim. Not that we shouldn't be vigilant, nor pretend that the government would love to have this capacity - but the Homeland Security Bill, IMO, does not contain a provision for the government to have access to all credit card transactions.

[MissAmericanPie]

If it doesn't seem "odd" to you then your asleep. I said a couple of years ago we would not recognize the USA in five years. Just wait till we get another Clinton in office, they will love the Patriot Act as a tool to control and get rid of their enemies. And it does not sunset in four years as advertised, not the worse parts of it anyway.

[PatrioticAmerican]

If the government thinks that they can just take whatever information they want, is that not illegal search & seizure?

If they have taken information about a person without that person's consent, who later commits a crime, could the person get any information the goobermint has thrown from court on that basis?

I'd say so. The goobermint is not asking for public information, they are demanding private information without warrant or any suspicion of a crime having been committed.

[Doctor Stochastic]

And the War will continue into the next President's term, whoever she may be.

[dirtboy]

The goobermint is not asking for public information, they are demanding private information without warrant or any suspicion of a crime having been committed.

They established the precedent in the Drug War by requiring that banks notify the government of cash transactions in excess of $10,000. The Patriot Act upped the ante by requiring notification of ANY transaction in excess of $10,000 by ANY business, not just finanical institutions - implementation of that provision has been delayed because so many businesses are completely unaware that it exists, and even the ones that do are having problems with implementation.

Having said that, after a bit of research I do NOT believe that H.R. 5710, the Homeland Security Bill, contains language that authorizes the government to collect all credit card transaction data - Safire is taking a pie-in-the-sky dream by a Defense Department group called DARPA and linking it to H.R. 5710 when no such linkage exists in that bill, to the extent that I can determine.

[Mugwump]

"Well, it's time to remind you Mugwump-types!..."

...and he said we are at war. Gosh, I guess I should be flattered; my reputation precedes me.

And, yes, I loathe the very idea of that kind of surveillance on law-abiding citizens. War? This is unlike any war ever fought, and while I agree that some sacrifices may be necessary in the long run, having a faceless bureaucrat capable of tracking my every move isn't one of them, IMO.

[A. Pole]

Let them collect all the data they want and if it happens to harm someone or a group of people, tough luck.

Tough luck to you!

[Dick Bachert]

As you read this, ask yourself this question: If America -- the IDEA, not the geograpghical place -- becomes indistinguishable from Cuba, China, North Korea, etc., -- haven't the bad guys accomplished their goal?

And if we do hurl our freedoms overboard in what will -- given the intel failures pre-911 -- almost certainly be a minimal increase in our "security," is America WORTH fighting and dying for?

I'm reminded of the words of others on the subject:

* "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither Liberty nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin, Pennsylvania Assembly, Nov. 11, 1755

* "While the people are virtuous, they cannot be subdued; but when they lose their virtue they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader."
--Samuel Adams

* “At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”
A. Lincoln, The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions: Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois January 27, 1838

(And, yes, I DO know how Lincoln trampled the Constitution during the War of Northern Aggression. I make no claim that he wasn't a hypocrite: He was, after all, a politician.)

[Fred Mertz]

Thanks for your taking the time to research this. Maybe you should inform Safire that he's over the top on the credit card aspect of his claims.

[dirtboy]

Thanks for your taking the time to research this. Maybe you should inform Safire that he's over the top on the credit card aspect of his claims.

I'm gonna try to do a bit more research before I do something like that. They can do a very effective job of burying little stinkers in bills as broad as this one.