[R-G] [BillTottenWeblog] The Emerging Surveillance State

[Bill Totten]

by Ron Paul

lewrockwell.com (April 08 2008)


Last month, the House amended the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Act (FISA) to expand the government’s ability to monitor our private
communications. This measure, if it becomes law, will result in more
warrantless government surveillance of innocent American citizens.

Though some opponents claimed that the only controversial part of this
legislation was its grant of immunity to telecommunications companies,
there is much more to be wary of in the bill. In the House version,
Title II, Section 801, extends immunity from prosecution of civil legal
action to people and companies including any provider of an electronic
communication service, any provider of a remote computing service, "any
other communication service provider who has access to wire or
electronic communications", any "parent, subsidiary, affiliate,
successor, or assignee" of such company, any "officer, employee, or
agent" of any such company, and any "landlord, custodian, or other
person who may be authorized or required to furnish assistance". The
Senate version goes even further by granting retroactive immunity to
such entities that may have broken the law in the past.

The new FISA bill allows the federal government to compel many more
types of companies and individuals to grant the government access to our
communications without a warrant. The provisions in the legislation
designed to protect Americans from warrantless surveillance are full of
loopholes and ambiguities. There is no blanket prohibition against
listening in on all American citizens without a warrant.

We have been told that this power to listen in on communications is
legal and only targets terrorists. But if what these companies are being
compelled to do is legal, why is it necessary to grant them immunity? If
what they did in the past was legal and proper, why is it necessary to
grant them retroactive immunity?

In communist East Germany, one in every 100 citizens was an informer for
the dreaded secret police, the Stasi. They either volunteered or were
compelled by their government to spy on their customers, their
neighbors, their families, and their friends. When we think of the evil
of totalitarianism, such networks of state spies are usually what comes
to mind. Yet, with modern technology, what once took tens of thousands
of informants can now be achieved by a few companies being coerced by
the government to allow it to listen in to our communications. This
surveillance is un-American.

We should remember that former New York governor Eliot Spitzer was
brought down by a provision of the PATRIOT Act that required enhanced
bank monitoring of certain types of financial transactions. Yet we were
told that the PATRIOT Act was needed to catch terrorists, not
philanderers. The extraordinary power the government has granted itself
to look into our private lives can be used for many purposes unrelated
to fighting terrorism. We can even see how expanded federal government
surveillance power might be used to do away with political rivals.

The Fourth Amendment to our Constitution requires the government to have
a warrant when it wishes to look into the private affairs of
individuals. If we are to remain a free society we must defend our
rights against any governmental attempt to undermine or bypass the
Constitution.
_____

Dr Ron Paul is a Republican member of Congress from Texas.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul452.html


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