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The Emerging Surveillance
State
Ron Paul
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Last month, the House amended the 1978 Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act (FISA) to expand the government’s ability
to monitor our private communications. This measure, if it becomes
law, will result in more warrantless government surveillance of
innocent American citizens.
Though some opponents claimed that the only controversial part
of this legislation was its grant of immunity to telecommunications
companies, there is much more to be wary of in the bill. In the
House version, Title II, Section 801, extends immunity from prosecution
of civil legal action to people and companies including any provider
of an electronic communication service, any provider of a remote
computing service, “any other communication service provider
who has access to wire or electronic communications,” any
“parent, subsidiary, affiliate, successor, or assignee”
of such company, any “officer, employee, or agent”
of any such company, and any “landlord, custodian, or other
person who may be authorized or required to furnish assistance.”
The Senate version goes even further by granting retroactive immunity
to such entities that may have broken the law in the past.
The new FISA bill allows the federal government to compel many
more types of companies and individuals to grant the government
access to our communications without a warrant. The provisions
in the legislation designed to protect Americans from warrantless
surveillance are full of loopholes and ambiguities. There is no
blanket prohibition against listening in on all American citizens
without a warrant.
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We have been told that this power to listen in on communications
is legal and only targets terrorists. But if what these companies
are being compelled to do is legal, why is it necessary to grant
them immunity? If what they did in the past was legal and proper,
why is it necessary to grant them retroactive immunity?
In communist East Germany, one in every 100 citizens was an informer
for the dreaded secret police, the Stasi. They either volunteered
or were compelled by their government to spy on their customers,
their neighbors, their families, and their friends. When we think
of the evil of totalitarianism, such networks of state spies are
usually what comes to mind. Yet, with modern technology, what
once took tens of thousands of informants can now be achieved
by a few companies being coerced by the government to allow it
to listen in to our communications. This surveillance is un-American.
We should remember that former New York governor Eliot Spitzer
was brought down by a provision of the PATRIOT Act that required
enhanced bank monitoring of certain types of financial transactions.
Yet we were told that the PATRIOT Act was needed to catch terrorists,
not philanderers. The extraordinary power the government has granted
itself to look into our private lives can be used for many purposes
unrelated to fighting terrorism. We can even see how expanded
federal government surveillance power might be used to do away
with political rivals.
The Fourth Amendment to our Constitution requires the government
to have a warrant when it wishes to look into the private affairs
of individuals. If we are to remain a free society we must defend
our rights against any governmental attempt to undermine or bypass
the Constitution.
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