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"The key is not whether the FBI can access databases," Wisdom said. "The key is what they do with it. You have to trust your law enforcement community that even though they have access to privileged information, that they have the good judgment to use it properly."

Prior to Clinton, I would have gone along with this agent's sentiment.

Who of us doesn't want to support our government agents, to stand with them in proud patriotic unity?

But those same agents are capable of being manipulated by a vindictive group with a political agenda. And this is precisely why the ideas for the United States of America were framed as they were, to impede these developments.

The time for civil disobedience has arrived. Other than for the purpose of employment, the SSN should be denied to all that request it. This includes medical insurance plans, credit bureaus, supermarket chains, driver licensing bureaus, passport agencies, court dockets, banks and brokerages.

Our governments can proceed to track non-citizens with this scheme, but American citizens enjoy the rights given them by God unless they submit to those that view such rights as granted by government.

We don't need suspicion; we're just going fishin'.

Much,much harder to track non-ciizens without use of SSN.It might even be impossible in practical terms.

The time for civil disobedience has arrived. Other than for the purpose of employment, the SSN should be denied to all that request it. This includes medical insurance plans, credit bureaus, supermarket chains, driver licensing bureaus, passport agencies, court dockets, banks and brokerages.

My hubby and I have always refused to give our social security numbers out to those who have no right to ask us for this information. We carry a copy of the law with us at all times, which specifies who may legally ask us for this info and more importantly states the severity of the penalties for those insisting on this info when they have no legal right to it. It works like a charm. (Although, I must admit our main concern had always been identity theft rather than the government's ability to track us.)

I'm getting very tired of the government expanding its snooping powers over anyone and everyone, when we all know who poses the real threat. If FBI agents hadn't been so busy chasing every American with a gun & a copy of the US Constitution, they might have been more aware of what Mr. Atta and his pals were up to. This wide spectrum snooping is just more of the same unfocused BS that got us 9-11.

Instead of setting up an elaborate system of database profiling, they need to drop the PC nonsense and do the kind of profiling that will get them real results. Otherwise they're just wasting their time, manpower, and money. (What the government does best, eh?)

I really don't want the government tracking my purchases. My book buying habits alone could give them the wrong idea, since I tend to read up on a wide range of topics from varying viewpoints, sometimes agreeing with the authors, sometimes wanting to throttle them.

Tracking me would be quite an undertaking though, requiring more than one agent for sure, because no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to get anyone to spell my last name right. It drives me batty sometimes. And, the spelling boondoggles keep getting worse as the number of "English as a 2nd language" speakers increases. (sigh)

I found a cool site that may be helpful:

"Frequently Asked Questions on SSNs and Privacy"

http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/privacy/ssn/ssn.faq.html