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----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2001 9:59 PM
Subject: Big Brother & The WTC Attack presents The Perfect
Excuse to Mandate Smart Cards
Big Brother & The WTC
Attack
presents
The Perfect Excuse to Mandate Smart Cards
[Editor's Note: For those
hypnotized Americans who are waving flags, singing songs, donating blood,
and
otherwise anxious to kick ass, here's the
reality of where you're being lead-down the Primrose Path,
towards
slavery and misery. Welcome to the Brave New
World of the Illuminated Bush Adminsitration... Ken Adachi]
Experts See A
High-Security America Of Surveillance & Seizures
NEW YORK Security experts
in the United States are describing a new kind of country that could
emerge,
where electronic identification might become
the norm, immigrants might be tracked far more closely and
the
airspace over cities like New York and
Washington might be off-limits to all civilian aircraft.
Attorney General John
Ashcroft outlined several proposals Monday, saying, "We should strengthen our
laws to
increase the ability of the Department
of Justice and its component agencies to identify, prevent and
punish
terrorism."
The proposals he described
included measures that would give law enforcement officials expanded
electronic
surveillance powers and new powers to
seize the assets of suspected terrorists. Since the attacks, Congress
has
been acting on proposals to make wiretapping of
computers easier, and a flood of measures is expected that
will
loosen restrictions on what effectively is
domestic spying. Legal experts say that the courts are unlikely to
impose
many restrictions on Congress's security
decisions. As a result, they say, the country can adopt security
measures
as stringent as its people will tolerate
politically or will support financially.
Experts say that
technology has presented almost limitless possibilities. "Each American could be
given a 'smart
card,' so, as they go into an airport
or anywhere, we know exactly who they are," said Michael
Cherkasky,
president of Kroll Inc. consultants.
"The technology is here,"
Mr. Cherkasky said, noting that it can be readily expanded.
Such cards, with computer
chips, would have detailed information about their owners and leave a
computer
record when they are used. The cards could
be coordinated with fingerprints or, in a few years,
facial
characteristics, and be programmed to permit
or to limit access to areas or entire buildings. They could
track
someone's location, financial transactions,
criminal history and even driving speed on a particular highway on
a
given night.
Critics said that
electronic identification cards, combined with other measures, could usher in an
era of surveillance
and suspicion. And civil
libertarians note that an anxious public may be willing to trade freedoms for
greater safety
in the aftermath of the attacks last
week.
It is not clear, said
Bruce Ackerman, a law professor at Yale University, whether that acceptance will
continue if
people are discomforted. "It is a
profound affront to be metered and measured," he said. "And that is, I think,
the
debate of the future."
Legal experts said the
civil libertarians will find little sympathy in the courts. In World War II,
they noted, the
Supreme Court approved the
internment of Japanese-Americans, a decision that constitutional scholars
now
widely consider to have been wrong.
"If history suggests
anything," said David Strauss, a law professor at the University of Chicago, "it
suggests the
courts will allow the government to get
away with a lot. "Not quite everything, but a lot more than you
would
expect."
In interviews, experts on
security and terrorism outlined some choices. Immigration could be more
sharply
controlled, with some immigrants required to
report periodically on their activities. Video surveillance,
already
growing, could be sharply increased in
stores, offices and public places and at public events. Law
enforcement
officials could expand the use of
personality profiles, possibly including racial descriptions, to identify
potential
terrorists.
Terry F. Lenzner, chairman
of Investigative Group International, a corporate security concern, said that,
if the flow
of money was being monitored before the
attacks last week, authorities might have realized that people
were
receiving money from Osama bin Laden or other
terrorists.
Airport security is likely
to be just one area for debate. Armed sky marshals, stronger cockpit doors and
new
technology for luggage searches are likely to be
accepted widely. But some experts suggested that the
country
could also adopt a system like Israel's,
where security people often interrogate passengers about their travel
plans
and rifle through their baggage. John
Horn, vice president of IPSA International, a security consulting
concern,
said he favored declaring the airspace over
some cities off limits to commercial flights. But he and other
experts
said that the public, which already
generally balks at the prospect of airport construction, might balk at the
cost
and inconvenience of building new runways or
airports to avoid cities. Partly because of limits of normal
security
systems, some experts said, computer
technology will be harnessed to make the country safer.
Even if opposition makes a
national identity card unrealistic, experts say the attacks will sharply
increase adoption
of security technology. "Over a
period of time, these technologies will slowly be becoming part of our life,"
said
Martin Pollner, a New York lawyer at Loeb Loeb,
who was director of law enforcement at the Treasury
Department in the 1970s. "You will no longer be able to just come and go."
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