-Caveat Lector-
RadTimes # 52 - September, 2000
An informally produced compendium of vital irregularities.
"We're living in rad times!"
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LUVeR Alternative News is offering a daily audio show using selected
stories from RadTimes & other non-mainstream sources. Check it out!
<www.luver.org>
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Contents:
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--Thousands say "Smash the IMF"
--Report: Extinction risk growing worldwide
--Canada Hosts Conference on War-Affected Children
--RIP: what the spooks can really see
--The Feds and Your Privacy
Linked stories:
*Carnivore review team exposed!
*Drug Testing of Pregnant Women Going to High Court
*Stop Marketing of Violence to Children
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Begin stories:
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Thousands say "Smash the IMF"
TANKS CAN'T STOP PROTESTS IN PRAGUE AS
THOUSANDS SAY, : "SMASH THE IMF!"
By Bill Dorr
Prague, Czech Republic
They came to wreck and destroy. From Washington and Wall
Street, Frankfurt, Tokyo, the Bourse in Paris and the City of
London, silk-suited bankers, financiers and economists descended
on this beautiful Central European city to consort with and dictate to
finance ministers from over 100 countries at the annual meeting of
the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Behind the bankers' smooth professions of concern for the 2 billion
people on this planet who go to bed hungry was an ill-concealed
hidden agenda-cut wages, raise prices, shut down plants, schools,
hospitals, eliminate jobs. And make sure that interest continues to
flow from the world's poorest countries to the world's richest banks.
But these global economic tyrants could not carry out their agenda
in peace or silence. They had to hide behind armies of police and
walls of tanks as thousands of protesters from all over Europe filled
the cobblestoned streets of Prague Sept. 26.
The bankers had to travel to their hotels in special guarded subway
cars as activists fought armored police on bridges and intersections
leading to the Prague Congress Center. IMF-WB delegates who
dared travel the streets in chartered buses found themselves
surrounded by angry crowds.
DEMOCRACY, CAPITALIST STYLE
Czech president Vaclav Havel sent tanks into the streets of Prague
to intimidate the anti-corporate protesters. He sent 15,000 cops and
2,000 soldiers to gas them, beat them and spray them with water
cannon. Teams of FBI agents sent from the United States
supervised the Czech police forces.
Havel, a former anti-communist dissident and darling of the Western
corporate media, is a longtime servant of capital. After the
overthrow of socialism in Czechoslovakia in 1989, he rented out the
wall of his home to Campbell's Soup for an advertisement.
Massive police force managed to stop three columns of protesters
from actually reaching the IMF-WB meeting. But it failed to
intimidate the marchers, who repeatedly charged police lines in an
effort to break through and confront the bankers. On the Gottwald
Bridge, demonstrators fought the police hand to hand for hours amid
chants of "No pasaran."
'CAPITALISM, A SHAME AND DISGRACE'
The rest of Prague belonged to the demonstrators, and anti-
capitalist slogans in a dozen languages echoed through its winding
streets: "Smash the IMF," "Cancel the debt," and "Capitalism, a
shame and disgrace."
The Prague metro was shut down for a day so the bankers could
travel without being confronted, and many shuttered businesses bore
signs saying "Closed Until the IMF Protests Are Over."
Throughout the night, street fighting continued in and around Wenceslas
Square. Demonstrators surrounded the state opera, forcing the IMF and
World Bank to cancel a dinner they had planned to hold there.
MASS ARREST OF CZECH CITIZENS
Late in the night, having failed to break the protests, police began
rounding up and arresting ordinary Czech citizens on streets around
the city center. While the corporate media claimed the majority of
protesters were foreign, of the 422 people arrested, 392 were
Czech citizens. They are being held in the city of Plzen, far from
Prague, and have so far not been allowed to speak to lawyers.
Tuesday's battle was the climax of a week of protests. These
included a 3,000-strong Stop the IMF march on Sept. 23,
organized by the Communist Union of Youth and backed by trade
unions and the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia.
That same day there as a 1,000-strong antifascist march to counter
a rally by the neo-Nazi National Alliance. Racist skinheads who try
and terrorize Roma and other people of color found the tables
turned as protesters chased them through the streets. A few of the
racists escaped unharmed.
Most of the protesters who came to Prague were young, many of
them students, many of them teenagers. But there were also
construction workers from Greece, steelworkers from Germany,
railroad workers from France, public employees from Britain and
dock workers from Seattle.
The contingents from Italy and Spain were especially large and
militant and took the front line in fighting the police. Marchers from
Germany and Scotland carried flags demanding justice for Mumia
Abu Jamal.
A delegation from the International Action Center in the United
States distributed a statement headlined "Abolish NATO, the IMF's
strike force!" It called the IMF and NATO "partners in genocide"
and demanded "US-NATO Hands off Yugoslavia." The statement
also exposed the racist U.S. prison system and urged international
support for Mumia.
Hundreds of Czechs joined the protests despite months of hysterical
violence-baiting by the government and media aimed at turning the
population against the protesters. Eighty percent of the Czech
Republic's media is owned by foreign corporations.
Members of the Czech Communist Youth Union and the Socialist
Youth of Slovakia marched behind a banner saying "Stop the
dictatorship of the World Bank and the International Monetary
Fund." They chanted "Black and white, unite and fight" and "Prague,
Seattle, take it all the way, we will expropriate capital."
Marching with them was Mario, an 18-year-old Roma man from
Slovakia. "In the past 10 years everybody in Slovakia has become
poor, but the Roma are the most poor. Under socialism most Roma
people worked in heavy industry, but now we are 90-percent
unemployed. The government tries to make us scapegoats, and
there is a growing racist movement. We have to fight back."
Dragan, a 35-year-old Serbian construction worker, said he would
stand on the front lines of every demonstration. "I've lived in Prague
for nine years," he said. "People here now have more freedom to
travel abroad, but that's the only thing that's better. Life has become
much harder-there is no social security. The Czech Republic is being
walked like a poodle by international monopolies and has been
dragged into the aggressive NATO alliance."
He was particularly outraged at the campaign against Yugoslavia.
"It's all lies," he said. "I'm Serb but Croats, Bosnians, Albanians are
my brothers. We are a multi-ethnic country. They call Milosevic a
nationalist but all he wants is an independent Yugoslavia."
LABOR SUPPORTS PROTESTS
At Saturday's rally Petr Simunek, president of the Trade Union
association of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia, told why his unions
supported the protests. "IMF and World Bank policies have
destroyed most of the social gains we had under socialism and they
want to take the rest. The biggest blow is the destruction of heavy
industry.
"There is 10 percent unemployment in the Czech Republic today but
in industrial areas like north Moravia and north Bohemia it is 25 and
30 percent. For those who are working, prices and rents have gone
up much faster than incomes. But it is not only here.
"Throughout the world 9,000 people are plunged into poverty
everyday because of policies dictated by the World Bank and
International Monetary Fund." Simunek condemned U.S. and
European Union economic sanctions against Yugoslavia, Cuba,
Iraq, Libya, Sudan and north Korea.
Also taking part in the protests or applauding from the sidewalks
were older Czech people who remembered the mass labor
demonstrations of 1948 that overthrew capitalism in
Czechoslovakia.
Since 1989, when socialism was overthrown here and the country
divided in two, the Czech Republic has been held up as a supposed
"success story" of capitalism in East Europe. It might seem that way
in Prague, where there is a lot of tourism and foreign investment. But
since the economic crash of 1998 much of the country has been
plunged into poverty.
A Czech worker from Plsen told us how he now works 120 hours a
week to support his family. The extent of the desperation here is
shown by the fact that Prague has become the center of prostitution
in Europe. The World Bank's own figures, released shortly before
the meeting, admitted a drastic rise in poverty and inequality
throughout East and Central Europe in the past five years.
At press conferences and in media statements IMF and World
Bank officials decried the poverty they have helped cause and threw
around phrases like "humane investing." And some of the protest
organizers spoke of "reforming' the IMF and World Bank. But as
several protesters put it, "A tiger will never become a vegetarian."
The feelings of most of the protesters who spoke to us were
summed up in a slogan chanted by young Czech Communists: "Why
are we here? Stop the IMF! What do we want? Smash the IMF!
What will we do? Unite and fight? What will we win? A world for
us!"
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Report: Extinction risk growing worldwide
By Mara D. Belaby
Sept. 28, 2000 | LONDON (AP) -- A wild cat that roams the Iberian Peninsula,
a dolphin off the New Zealand coast, a caviar-producing sturgeon and a
red-flowered shrub clinging to the mountains of Mauritius -- all are
teetering on the edge of extinction.
Some 11,046 plants and animals risk disappearing forever, according to the
most comprehensive analysis of global conservation ever undertaken, the
World Conservation Union's 2000 Red List of Threatened Species. The report,
released Thursday, examined some 18,000 species and subspecies around the
globe.
But scientists acknowledge that even a study of this magnitude only
scratches the surface. Earth is home to an estimated 14 million species --
and only 1.75 million have been documented.
Many may become extinct before they are even identified, much less assessed
by scientists.
"Global society would be horrified if someone set fire to the Louvre in
Paris or the Metropolitan Museum in New York, or if someone blew up the
Pyramids or the Taj Mahal," said Russell Mittermeier, president of the
Washington, D.C.-based Conservation International.
"Yet every time a forest is burned to the ground in Madagascar or the
Philippines, the loss to global society is at least as great, yet no one
pays very much attention -- and sadly it happens every day."
Conservationists estimate that the current extinction rate is 1,000 to
10,000 times higher than it should be under natural conditions. That means
that in the first decades of the 21st century, many creatures -- from a
majestic Albatross to Asian freshwater turtles -- may join the ranks of the
flightless Dodo bird.
The primary reason: humans. Everything from expanding cities to
deforestation, agriculture and fishing pose a significant threat to the
planet's biodiversity. In the last 500 years, some 816 species have
disappeared -- some permanently, while others exist only in artificial
settings, such as zoos.
With 11,046 more at significant risk of being confined to the history books,
and 4,595 on the brink of being declared threatened, conservationists are
gloomy.
"The extinction crisis that we've all been talking about for a long time
looks as if it is fast becoming a reality," said Craig Hilton-Taylor, of the
World Conservation Union's British branch. "And it is a far more serious
problem than ever anticipated."
Since the last assessment, carried out in 1996, the number of mammals
identified as critically endangered -- those closest to extinction --
increased from 169 to 180. The number of birds rose from 168 to 182.
According to the 2000 Red List, one in every four mammals and one in every
eight birds is at risk.
Statistics for plants are more difficult to assess because so many are yet
to be analyzed. But conifers, the most studied group, suggest a depressing
trend -- some 16 percent are at risk, according to the report.
"This time we were scared by our own results," Maritta Koch-Weser,
director-general of the World Conservation Union, said in an interview from
her office outside Geneva. "Our world is a result of evolution over 3.5
billion years and we are able in just four years to do away with so much.
The magnitude of what we've done is philosophically hard to understand."
The Red List is produced by the World Conservation Union's Species Survival
Commission, a network of some 7,000 species experts working in almost every
country in the world.
The conservationists assign each species to one of eight categories,
depending on such factors as the rate of decline, population numbers and the
size of the geographic area where it is found.
Species facing a significant threat of extinction are classified as
critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable. Examples range from the
Iberian lynx, of which only 600 remain, to the Brazilian Guitar Fish, whose
numbers declined by 96 percent due to overfishing.
Indonesia, India, Brazil and China are among the countries with the most
threatened mammals and birds, according to the 2000 report. The United
States fell out of the top 20 list, replaced this time by Cameroon and
Russia.
However, the United States did rank top of the chart for the most threatened
species of fish and invertebrates. But experts said that is slightly
misleading because the status of these creatures has been more closely
analyzed in the United States than elsewhere.
Malaysia, which has lost a significant proportion of its tropical timber
trees tops the list for endangered plant species.
Conservationists said the latest report can be used to educate governments
and people worldwide. Ultimately, they are seeking more legal protection for
at-risk animals and habitats, the creation of conservation "hot spots" to
protect areas facing grave danger and a massive increase in spending above
the estimated $6 billion currently spent worldwide.
"As a society we don't care what are we going to leave behind for people
that come after us," said Koch-Weser. "In many cases, we don't even know
what we are losing."
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Canada Hosts Conference on War-Affected Children
Rachel Stohl, Senior Analyst, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
From September 10-17, the Government of Canada hosted an International
Conference on War-Affected Children in Winnipeg, Canada. The conference
was intended to develop a framework for action on behalf of children
worldwide. Significantly, the conference marked the first time that youth
were treated as equal partners with governments, non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), and other political actors. Approximately 50 youth
participated in the conference, expressing their concerns about
priorities and providing recommendations for future advocacy and policies.
Because war impacts all aspects of a child's life and society's ability
to provide necessary stable supporting structures and services, the
conference agenda was diverse. Topics included small arms, child
soldiers, HIV/AIDS and other health concerns, education, refugees,
accountability, and impunity from justice. In order to conduct
discussions effectively, the conference was organized into different
sessions. For two days, the youth met alone to discuss their experiences
and solidify recommendations. NGOs conducted a day-long meeting to
coordinate an action plan. For three days experts on war-affected
children, including the youth and NGO participants, met to develop a
framework for future action. The last two days of the conference were a
ministerial-level meeting to which approximately 135 governments sent
representatives, including 50 Foreign Ministers, to develop an agenda for
action. An estimated twenty expert delegates were invited to the
ministerial-level meeting.
Officially, the conference produced two documents: a summary by the
Chairs of the Experts' Meeting and an Agenda for Action from the
ministerial-level meeting. Both documents will be used as the background
and framework for discussions at the UN Special Session on Children in
September 2001. The NGOs also presented a program of action for NGOs,
governments, donors, aid agencies, and international organizations that
was far more aggressive in its agenda than the official conference
documents.
The Summary by the Chairs of the Experts' Meeting is a framework of
commitments to war-affected children. The summary contains seven major
and immediate priorities including: the entry into force of the
International Criminal Court Statute, universal ratification of the
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the child on the
involvement of children in conflict by the Special Session on Children in
September 2001, the development of an effective international monitoring
network to ensure systematic reporting on child rights abuses in all
conflict-affected and conflict-prone countries and to ensure that
follow-up actions are taken urgently and responsibly, and the
commissioning of a study on the impact of small arms on children to be
done by the International Conference on Small Arms in 2001 with
prescriptions for concerted follow-up action.
The Agenda for Action on War-Affected Children included fourteen points
that governments identified as priorities for action. Even though this
document was non-binding and was not a treaty in any sense of the word,
the end result was extremely weak and non-specific. Rather than
challenging states to move further, the Agenda for Action is a benign
description of general areas of concern. While certainly the subjects
contained within these fourteen points (e.g., suffocating the supply of
small arms, increasing accountability, ending impunity, ending the
targeting of children) are on point, the content of the Agenda does not
mandate or even encourage specific actions in defined time periods. As a
result, the Agenda for Action remains another example of governments
placing domestic and international political considerations ahead of the
welfare of children.
During the ministerial-level conference, several governments committed
of resources and enunciated policies that would assist war-affected
children. The Canadian government committed over $30 million for aid
programs, including support for a youth network and NGO network. Among
other financial commitments, the United States pledged $1 million per
year for four years to the International Committee of the Red Cross for
programs to assist women and girls in conflict.
While the United States did allocate financial resources to help address
war-affected children, it nonetheless remains an obstacle to initiatives
that could yield concrete results quickly. The United States is the only
country in the world, other than Somalia, that has not ratified the
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the primary treaty
involving the rights of children. Further, the United States remains
opposed to the International Criminal Court, the intended forum for
prosecuting those who abuse the rights of children. The United States
also has not yet ratified the Optional Protocol to the CRC which
establishes 18 as the minimum age for participation in armed conflict.
Providing resources for children is necessary and laudable, but until the
United States accedes to the treaties that protect children, commitment
to the welfare of the world's children will be little more than pro forma.
On close examination, the entire international community's failings are
obvious. Although there are treaties protecting civilians and children
during war, the implementation, monitoring, and enforcement of these
agreements remains dismal. Too often governments and opposition groups
in conflict both ignore their international obligations and act with
impunity, often targeting children specifically because of their
vulnerability, violating their human rights. Real solutions to the
problems caused by war will not be solved with rhetoric but with honest
and real commitments. In the year leading up to the UN Special Session
on Children in September 2001, the international community has an
opportunity to make up for past failures. For the sake of the world's
children, this chance cannot be sacrificed by international politics or
other, more "pressing" agendas.
For more information on the International Conference on War-Affected
Children, visit the conference's official website at:
<http://www.waraffectedchildren.gc.ca/>
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RIP: what the spooks can really see
<http://www.uk.internet.com/Article/100589>
"Welcome to those of you from the security services," said event organiser
Simon Davies from campaign group Privacy International, to the windowless
lecture theatre. For the seven spooks, and around 100 other attendees, last
Friday's International Forum on Surveillance by Design was a chance to see
how the UK's Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Act compares with
similar legislation worldwide.
It was the latest in a series of conferences hosted by Davies at the London
School of Economics (LSE) looking at how governments use technology to
invade privacy. The previous Scrambling for Safety meetings have now become
the main public forum for discussing the RIP Bill.
RIP is now law, and according to privacy campaigners, is not as bad as it
could have been. "The Bill was, in some respects, improved," conceded Ian
Brown of University College London (UCL), before pointing out some of the
flaws that still remain.
The Act regulates the interception of communications for security purposes,
and differentiates between 'traffic' - the data on your phone bill, for
example - and 'content' - the actual call. To access content requires
permission from the Home Secretary, whereas traffic can be tapped on the
authority of a chief constable or equivalent.
But as Brown pointed out, the boundary is blurred on the web. Traffic data
such as a web page address can effectively include content: just look at the
URL produced by many search engines containing the terms of the query. Other
controversial measures, such as the government's right to demand encryption
keys, are still in the Act, even though this power has become a last-ditch
option after demands for unencrypted, or plain text, emails have failed.
Cry freedom
Maurice Wessling, of Dutch campaign group Bits of Freedom, shed light on
ecommerce minister Patricia Hewitt's claim that "the Netherlands passed a
similar law a couple of years ago". Similar, but not the same: the Dutch
legislation requires a court-issued warrant for each tap, which is more than
the UK does.
Furthermore, a Dutch internet service provider (ISP) does the tapping of a
customer itself, under the control of the court warrant, using a PC running
software the ISP can inspect. The UK plans to use sealed 'black boxes'
operated by the security services to this end. Even so, the Netherlands is
hardly an interception-free zone.
Wessling quoted government research saying that the Dutch conducted 10,000
phone taps in 1998 - more than much larger countries such as the US, the UK
or Germany. The country also claims to have the world's biggest state
interception centre. "They are self-proclaimed champions in tapping," noted
Wessling drily.
Not compared with the Russians, however. Boris Pustinsev, of civil liberties
organisation Citizens' Watch, outlined the SORM legislation that forces all
ISPs to install bugging kits and a high-capacity cable to the Federal
Security Service's (FSB's) headquarters.
This is at service providers' expense - as is the training for FSB staff.
"It's another sign of a return to Soviet-style oppression under Russian
premier Vladimir Putin," said Pustinsev, adding that there are no laws on
personal data protection in Russia.
The simultaneous emergence of web-bugging laws around the globe was not seen
as a coincidence: speakers detailed extensive international co-operation
that has taken place on legislation like RIP.
Betty Shave was the only speaker from a government security service: the
Home Office refused to speak, after minister Charles Clarke received a
stormy reception at the last Scrambling for Safety meeting.
Shave, an associate director at the US Department of Justice's (DoJ)
computer crime division, outlined co-operation between the US and European
countries in shaping a Council of Europe protocol on interception, that will
be binding on ratifying nations (which is likely to include the UK and US).
But she said the extraterritorial powers given to national security services
were modest.
But other speakers disagreed. Gus Hosein, of the LSE, read the worst into
the fact that, after months of discussion, the Council of Europe's plans
were vague on the issue of intercepting web traffic and demanding encryption
keys.
Tony Bunyan, editor of magazine Statewatch, outlined how another
pan-European institution was increasing its powers of secrecy, while
apparently planning much greater levels of state interception.
Over the summer, the European Union (EU) changed its rules on access to
documents. Previously, EU citizens were, in principle, allowed to see any
document, with reasons being required for exceptions, but this has now been
changed to ban the public from seeing any EU records touching on military or
non-military crisis planning, anything marked confidential, and any
documents associated with any of these categories.
In the meantime, Bunyan said, the EU states were introducing legislation
allowing one country's security services to get another's to tap someone's
communications for any crime. Such a provision is included in the RIP Act,
he pointed out. "Are we going to see a new CIA?" he asked.
Not all doom and gloom
There was one bright spot for doomsayers: no speaker believed that all, or
even most, web traffic is captured and analysed by spies. Jon Crowcroft, a
professor at UCL's computer science department, told the conference that his
office didn't record all email traffic when they acted as the UK's single
internet node in 1981.
"There wasn't enough capacity then, and there isn't now," he said. "Physics
can't do it yet." And with net traffic exploding in volume, it will be a
long time - if ever - before this spook's nirvana appears.
One point made by Shave with which campaigners agreed, was that those who
think their privacy is being infringed should take part in official
consultation processes, such as those currently being carried out by the
Council of Europe. It was the taking part in consultation that contributed
to changes in the RIP Act.
In closing, Davies said: "We should resist any inference that this campaign
is radical - if anything we are the conservatives, trying to hold ground. We
all have to start contributing to the consultation process."
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The Feds and Your Privacy
<http://www.cato.org/dailys/09-27-00.html>
September 27, 2000
by Lucas Mast
(Lucas Mast is a researcher in information studies at the Cato Institute.)
Using a credit card to buy a book from Amazon.com still makes a lot of
people uneasy. After all, what if their personal information falls into the
wrong hands? But a bigger threat to privacy comes from the federal
government, which keeps detailed information about Americans --your name,
your income, what you buy, your medical history--on computer systems that
are dangerously susceptible to break-ins.
In a recent report to Congress, the General Accounting Office audited
computer security at 20 federal agencies. Fully 18 agencies received a grade
of C or less--and seven got Fs. Among the flunked agencies are the
Department of Justice, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Health
and Human Services, all of which house some of the most sensitive data on
American citizens.
Thankfully, many in Congress are taking this threat seriously. At a hearing
to discuss the GAO report, Rep. Stephen Horn (R-Calif.) declared, "Obviously
there is a great deal of work ahead. . . [federal agencies] must take the
necessary steps to mitigate [privacy] threats. There is no room for
complacency." But instead of taking the threat seriously, most agency
officials were quick to pass the buck, blaming security breaches on a lack
of federal funding and lack of cooperation among agencies and oversight
committees.
The fact that this information resides in databases accessible across the
country makes federal agencies especially appealing targets for Internet
hackers and disgruntled employees. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) asked, "So
should we now be comfortable with a 'trust us, we're the government'
approach? I don't think anybody on the committee has that view."
Conyers isn't paranoid. The ability of the government to exploit citizens'
private information has often had terrible consequences. For example, the
internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II was made possible
largely because the government maintained (and still does maintain) Census
data specifying race. More recently, in 1995, more than 500 IRS agents were
caught illegally snooping through the tax records of thousands of Americans,
including personal friends and celebrities. Only five were fired for that
gross misconduct. In 1998 numerous Arizonans' credit card information was
exposed on a state-run Web site established to make registering cars more
convenient.
Information obtained from the Library of Congress illustrates in greater
detail how federal databases imperil citizens' privacy. Those databases show
that our government is not only warehousing sensitive information that could
enable a hacker to put together a complete profile of an individual but that
those data are not stored as securely as they need to be. The following is a
sample of findings, with a summary of sensitive data held by the agency and
GAO report card grades:
The Department of Commerce maintains databases that contain an individual' s
name, age, birth date and place, sex, race, home and business phone numbers
and addresses, family size and composition, patterns of product use, drug
sensitivity and medical history. Grade: C minus.
The Department of Health and Human Services possesses data on Medicaid
enrollment, claims histories, and billing and collection records. Grade: F.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development keeps research on single
families, mortgages, and income patterns. Grade: C minus.
The Department of Justice maintains the FBI's central records system, which
includes witness-security information. Grade: F.
The Department of Education stores national student loan data and maintains
a national registry of deaf and blind children. Grade: C.
The Department of Labor maintains a race and national-origin database and
credit information on debtors. Grade: F.
The Department of the Treasury has files on, among other things, relocated
witnesses and electronic surveillance. Grade: D.
Concerns about the security of federally held data could be dramatically
reduced if the federal bureaucracy were scaled back to its proper,
constitutionally limited role. At the very least, the federal government
should adopt the new security technologies prevalent in the private sector
to reduce the exposure of personal records to unwanted eyes.
Will it happen? I'd like to think so, but if the FBI's refusal to rein in
its "Carnivore" e-mail surveillance system is any indication of government
willingness to vigilantly defend our privacy, we have great cause for
concern.
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Linked stories:
********************
=====> Carnivore review team exposed!
<http://www.wired.com/news/emailstory/0,1294,39102,00.html>
A document posted on the Justice Department's Web site
accidentally reveals that the "independent" team chosen
to review the Carnivore Net snooping system has close ties
with the federal government in general, and the Clinton
administration in particular. (9/29/00)
********************
Drug Testing of Pregnant Women Going to High Court
<http://www.jointogether.org/jtodirect.jtml?U=83952&O=264602>
The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide whether a hospital
has the right to report pregnant women who test positive for
illicit drugs.
********************
Stop Marketing of Violence to Children
<http://www.jointogether.org/jtodirect.jtml?U=83952&O=264615>
The FTC report on the marketing of violence to children lays
bare the dark underbelly of a U.S. "entertainment" industry
which aggressively markets violent movies, video games and
music to our young children, according to Lion & Lamb
Project.
********************
======================================================
"Anarchy doesn't mean out of control. It means out of 'their' control."
-Jim Dodge
======================================================
"Communications without intelligence is noise;
intelligence without communications is irrelevant."
-Gen. Alfred. M. Gray, USMC
======================================================
"It is not a sign of good health to be well adjusted to a sick society."
-J. Krishnamurti
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screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
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