This site has moved to robert.williamsonline.us.
Anna posted her weekly set of bookmarks, which included an article implying that Ashcroft and the PATRIOT act are indistinguishable from, or at least precursors to, a "Minority Report"-like society.
I don't really worry too much about the PATRIOT act. That's not because I agree with it. In fact, I totally disagree with any reckless abandonment of our civil liberties.
I don't worry about the PATRIOT act because, like a good Jacksonian, I am deeply afraid that those in power will pervert the purpose of the government and become oppressive. I have always been suspicious that law enforcement has been compiling profiles of potentially dangerous persons based on the organizations they belong to, what they say online, what books they buy, etc. So the PATRIOT act is simply a statement of a subset of things that I suspect law enforcement has always done, or could always do.
Even though I'm certainly not interesting to law enforcement (I pity the official government watcher that I'm sure exists and has to keep track of me - it must be boring), I still am careful. I would not buy a subversive book with anything other than cash. Sometimes I even buy my Guns & Ammo magazines with cash, just in case. I use strong encryption on my computer. I have tools to send untraceable anonymous email. If I needed to write anything particularly interesting, I'd use Tin Foil Hat Linux to do so.
I don't think that the PATRIOT act changed anything. If "the feds" wanted to watch me, they surely wouldn't have let something like laws and regulations stand in the way. At least, not in my (hopefully) paranoid vision of the world.
Posted by Robert at September 18, 2002 02:27 PM | TrackBackWell put - I agree completely. The thing that bothers me about the Act, though, is they are taking such operations out of the covert realm and putting them into legislation - voiding what little rights to due process and accountability may exist otherwise.
Posted by: Charles on September 18, 2002 03:43 PMWell, due process and accountability break down at some point. Specifically, they break down when someone decides to keep what they do a secret. Laws and constitutions are worthless in the face of brute force.
For example, if someone wants information from you badly enough, they will simply drag you into the back room and beat you with rubber hoses (or do worse) until you tell them what they want. And accidents can easily be arranged to dispose of little problems - dead men tell no tales. First amendments, PATRIOT acts, Miranda rights - it's all meaningless then.
If I were to plan something bad (which I'm not, unless mowing my grass counts as something bad) I would use technical means to keep it secret and protect myself. I would not count on flimsy laws that only work when they are obeyed and enforced, and can only be enforced when the right people are willing to do so and know that the laws are being violated.
"Stop quoting laws to us; we carry swords." ---Pompeius Magnus
sure patriot has changed something... the government can now do all their nasty clandestine stuff out in the open and without fear of reprisal. :^P
Posted by: anna on September 19, 2002 11:19 AM