Privacy rules and the Patriot Act
Dear Readers,
I recently read a Washington Post.com article Telecom Firms' Need For Immunity Stressed. The article made me think of how the path to hell can be paved with good intentions. How often are actions that are meant to do good, in the end lead to disaster? The post 9/11 terrorist / "Patriot act" / Telecom Immunity is exactly that type of mentality. If we continue to follow President Bush to restrict our right to privacy then we might as well congratulate Osama Bin Laden on winning the war, because the war isn't about oil, money or land. The war is about the idea of freedom. The beautiful thought of freedom.
In the closed societies of the Taliban, Hammas and many other places in the world people do not have the freedom to speak, to organize, to freely think in the privacy of their own homes. They can't talk out about the government without facing criminal sanctions. In fact, this Blog may deserve a jail sentence in many parts of the world. We must realize that our need for security is balanced by our need to keep the freedoms we take for granted alive. We must be diligent not to let these rights slip away under our noses while we hunt for terrorist threats. This isn't to say I don't believe in the terrorist threat, I just believe we need to play by our own rules in catching them in our own country. Changing the rules to hunt for terrorists leads to changing the rules to hunt for criminals, which leads to changing the rules for you and me.
As a former prosecutor with the Department of Justice, also married to a former prosecutor, that has complete trust and faith in our system, albeit imperfect, I am not ready to change the rules on privacy so quickly.
Off the soapbox:
Brian
Click here to read more on Phone firm phones and immunity to privacy suits by the Washington Post.com and the recent article Telecom Firms' Need For Immunity Stressed in the Washington Post.com
