Bill never even imagined what George has wrought.
"Bill never even imagined what George has wrought."
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Too true, but that's the beauty of it.
A Dem could never have pulled it off.
HON. RON PAUL OF TEXAS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thursday, November 14, 2002
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to read "You are a Suspect" by William Safire in today's New York Times. Mr. Safire, who has been one of the media's most consistent defenders of personal privacy, details the Defense Department's plan to establish a system of "Total Information Awareness." According to Mr. Safire, once this system is implemented, no American will be able to use the internet to fill a prescription, subscribe to a magazine, buy a book, send or receive e-mail, or visit a web site free from the prying eyes of government bureaucrats. Furthermore, individual internet transactions will be recorded in "a virtual centralized grand database." Implementation of this project would shred the Fourth Amendment's requirement that the government establish probable cause and obtain a search warrant before snooping into the private affairs of its citizens. I hope my colleagues read Mr. Safire's article and support efforts to prevent the implementation of this program, including repealing any legislation weakening privacy protections that Congress may inadvertently have passed in the rush to complete legislative business this year.
New York Times, Nov. 14, 2002
"YOU ARE A SUSPECT"
(By William Safire)
Excerpt:
Washington--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 you 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."
To this computerized dossier on your private life from commercial sources, add every piece of information that government has about you--passport application, driver's license and bridge toll records, judicial and divorce records, complaints from nosy neighbors to the F.B.I., your lifetime paper trail plus the latest hidden camera surveillance--and you have the supersnoop's dream: a "Total Information Awareness" about every U.S. citizen.
This is not some far-out Orwellian scenario.
[cont'd]
http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2002/cr111502.htm