-Caveat Lector- http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/ptech/08/13/armey.privacy.ap/index.html Armey wages privacy crusade against snooping August 13, 2001 Posted: 12:13 PM EDT (1613 GMT) Armey is allied with the American Civil Liberties Union against the use of high-tech surveillance equipment WASHINGTON (AP) -- As House Majority Leader Dick Armey sees it, every time a camera snaps a driver running a red light or a software program tracks someone on the Internet, a piece of the Constitution is chipped away. The Texas Republican, a champion of conservative causes, believes government has been too quick to embrace technology that he says infringes on Americans' private lives. And he is allied on the issue with some unusual company -- the American Civil Liberties Union. "I believe that as little intercourse with the government as is necessary is what we are entitled to in America," Armey said. Together, he and the ACLU recently criticized government use of technology that digitizes video images of faces and checks them against photos of people wanted by police. "It's time to sit up and take notice," Gregory Nojeim, the ACLU's chief legal counsel, said of the liberal organization's alliance with the No. 2 House Republican on the issue. Armey has become Congress' foremost critic of high-tech snooping. His Web page has a link to statements, congressional testimony and legal papers on the issue. He also has a theme song for his crusade: "Doin' What Comes Natur'lly" from the musical "Annie Get Your Gun." Supporters say high-tech gadgetry helps protect law-abiding citizens, but Armey says it does so by infringing on the rights of innocent people. He's been using his position to try to influence debate on the issue: -- A study by Armey's office, of largely anecdotal evidence, drew publicity for posing the theory that yellow lights had been shortened so red-light cameras would nab more violators, producing more revenue for local governments. The study was the focus of a House hearing on the cameras last month. -- At Armey's request, the General Accounting Office is investigating the use of federal funds by state and local governments for face-recognition technology, which police used at the Super Bowl in Tampa, Florida, to scan the crowd for terrorists and other criminals. -- When the National Park Service said it would use cameras in northern Virginia to photograph and mail tickets to drivers caught speeding on the George Washington Parkway, Armey dashed off a terse letter to Interior Secretary Gale Norton. The cameras remain off. Law enforcement and advocacy groups consider the technology key to fighting crime and reducing the number of fatal car accidents. "The line is in a different place for us as opposed to the ACLU," said Jim Pasco, executive director of the National Fraternal Order of Police, which represents 297,000 officers. A car passes a traffic camera that will soon be operating to monitor speeding Judith Stone, president of Advocates for Highway Safety, told a House committee that red-light cameras have significantly reduced fatalities. Opposing them, she said, is like objecting to an aviation device that could prevent midair collisions. In Boulder, Colorado, red-light cameras at four intersections are credited with reducing accidents by 57 percent. A survey found that more than 60 percent of Boulder residents support the cameras. In Armey's home state, the city of Garland, which governs itself, is about to install red-light cameras although the Texas Legislature has twice rejected using them statewide. Garland city attorney Brad Neighbor questioned Armey's efforts. "Garland is a very conservative community in itself. And it seems to us that's the form of big government that you would not expect out of Representative Armey -- that Washington is going to dictate what local communities should do with respect to a local safety program," he said. Not against technology Armey's crusade isn't against technology. A self-described "geek," the former economics professor said he frequently surfs the Internet and has filed his income taxes electronically. He emphasizes that people have a right to choose whether to give up confidential information, and says the law is designed to protect victims from fraud. But the federal government has a dismal record when it comes to safeguarding private information, he said. "We have no credibility on the issue if we cannot clean up our own act," Armey said in a June speech to the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group. For example, last year government investigators hacked into Internal Revenue Service computers and accessed private information, including tax filings and Social Security numbers. Another investigation found several government Web sites using software that tracks Web-use patterns and devices that monitor a site's visitors. Such examples are what drives Armey, who said he's never had a run-in with a red-light camera or a breach of personal privacy from using the Internet. "We have a right to withhold information within the bounds of the law," he said. "I'm in a position now where I help define the bounds of the law." Copyright 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 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