:: NEWS COCKTAIL aka BlahBlahBlog ::
"Everything is being compressed into tiny tablets. You take a little pill of news every day - 23 minutes - and that's supposed to be enough." -Walter Cronkite, RE TV news. The Web has changed that for many, however, and here is an extra dose for your daily news cocktail. This prescription tends to include surveillance and now war-related links, along with the occasional pop culture junk and whatever else seizes my attention as I scan online news sites.:: 7.08.2003 ::
:: e-Surveillance ::
From PCWorld.com:
Who's Watching You Surf?
Citizen-rights groups turn to courts, Congress to keep tabs on legal surveillance.
By Elsa Wenzel
The Patriot Act of 2001 allows the government to secretly monitor the recipient names and subject lines of suspects' e-mail messages and to seize certain personal records--which could include library books, credit card receipts, and medical histories.
"Even if the FBI never abuses these powers, the powers are so broad on the books that they will inevitably create a chilling effect that would discourage people from exercising their First Amendment rights," Jaffer says.
Government searches of peoples' electronic communications and property have been steadily rising since the early 1990s, the watchdog groups point out. Domestic surveillance nearly tripled and FISA orders nearly doubled in the past decade, according to the court's own reports. Between 1992 and 2002, domestic wiretaps increased from 350 to 1358. In the same years, orders under FISA grew from 484 to 1228, according to government records.
posted by me
:: 8:54:00 AM [+] ::
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