Here's some more related info on the whole Email Privacy issue :)
"A bill requiring federal law-enforcement officials to be more forthright when
answering questions about electronic
surveillance systems has passed the U.S. House.
The bill, which passed by a unanimous voice vote Monday afternoon, would require the
attorney general and the FBI director to
submit a detailed report on the use of systems including Carnivore and its successor,
DCS1000.
The surveillance systems let law enforcement intercept electronic transmissions such
as e-mail. The bill requires that the
federal government reveal in its report the following, among other points: how many
times DCS1000 has been used; how the
approval process to use it works; and any unauthorized information that has been
gathered by the system. "
""It sends a message that Congress is watching and there will be accountability if
this system is used," said Richard
Diamond, a spokesman for Rep. Dick Armey, R-Texas.
Carnivore-like systems have raised the ire of privacy advocates, civil libertarians
and some lawmakers who fear the system
may be used to snoop on innocent citizens without their knowledge.
Justice Department officials in both the Clinton and Bush administrations have dodged
questions about the use of Carnivore
and its successor. Last year, then-Attorney General Janet Reno was criticized for
releasing incomplete reports about
Carnivore's structure and practices after a privacy group sued, demanding the
information.
And last Friday, when a reporter asked Attorney General John Ashcroft about the future
of Carnivore during his visit to the
Silicon Valley, Ashcroft replied that the FBI does not have a system called Carnivore.
He then made a vague comment about how
any similar system would use technology that is "privacy neutral."
The legislation passed Monday would not let law enforcement wiggle out of such
questions when asked by members of Congress.
It specifies that federal officials would have to provide information about Carnivore
or any similar systems when asked.
The bill now goes to the Senate for approval. If passed in its present form, federal
officials would have to submit reports
on Carnivore-like systems within 30 days of the end of the fiscal years 2001 and 2002.
"
It amazes me the hypocrisy of this Ashcroft guy. On the one hand he uses his
'christian morality' based arguments to berate
the entertainment industry and imply that the industry is responsible for all the ills
of America's Society, and on the other
he dodges questions about a program affecting people's privacy, and has not come out
in opposition of stem cell research
which the Pope has condemned.
And of course, he's a politician to put the final cap on the hypocratic band-wagon he
rides on.
-Gel
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