-Caveat Lector- From: Dan S <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/20597.html - Snooping OK on Pager Numbers? by Declan McCullagh 3:00 a.m. 7.Jul.99.PDT WASHINGTON -- Police can easily "eavesdrop" on pagers if a bill approved by the US Senate becomes law. The bill says law enforcement officials can monitor all messages sent to targeted pagers without having to convince a judge that the information can be found only in that way. "Congress is trying to do an end run around the Constitution and gut the privacy of millions of pager owners," said David Banisar, author of The Electronic Privacy Papers. The measure is part of a sprawling juvenile crime bill, which passed the Senate overwhelmingly after the Littleton, Colorado shootings. It isn't in the House version of the bill, and leaders from both chambers are scheduled to appoint conference committee members after the Fourth of July recess. According to the legislation, judges will be required to approve police surveillance of numeric pager data without subjecting law enforcement requests to the more exacting current requirements of search warrants or wiretap orders. The rules governing alphanumeric pager monitoring are left unchanged. "It makes the court into nothing more than a clerk," said Dave Kopel, a lawyer at the Independence Institute and a former assistant attorney general of Colorado. "The judge must issue the order based on a law enforcement officials' representation." Devices to monitor whom Americans call and receive calls from already fit into this warrantless category and are frequently used by police. Government statistics say 7,323 units -- called pen registers and trap-and-trace devices -- were used in 1998. The US Supreme Court ruled in 1979 that police didn't need a warrant to record what numbers a person dialed. "The installation and use of a pen register, consequently, was not a 'search,' and no warrant was required," the five-justice majority concluded. The proposal's backers intend it to grant additional authority to law enforcement officials but, oddly enough, the US Justice Department has called it unnecessary. "We are unaware of any law enforcement need for such authorization and believe that the proposal is unwise as a policy matter. The bill also raises significant constitutional concerns under the Fourth Amendment," says a May 1998 letter from the DOJ Office of Legislative Affairs. Another reason the DOJ gave was that criminals might simply switch to alphanumeric pagers, which the bill doesn't cover. Then how did this plan end up in a juvenile crime proposal? Senator Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) had previously introduced the pager interception proposal in 1997 and submitted it again this year as a stand-alone measure called the Clone Pager Authorization Act of 1999. DeWine couldn't be reached for comment during the recess. During floor debate, the Senate started hanging irrelevant amendments on the juvenile justice bill as if it were a Christmas tree badly in need of some serious decoration. One amendment creates a "national animal terrorism and ecoterrorism incident clearinghouse." Another requires Internet service providers to offer filtering software. DeWine's plan soon joined them. "This legislation is yet another occasion where Congress responds to tragedy by uncritically passing anything and everything that has an anticrime label stuck on it," said Solveig Singleton, director of information studies at the Cato Institute. -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------- ONElist Sponsor ---------------------------- ONElist members are using Shared Files in great ways! http://www.onelist.com Are you? If not, see our homepage for details. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [ISML] Insane Science Mailing List LIST MODERATOR: DAN S. To subscribe: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/isml DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections 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, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
