From: declan@well.com (Declan McCullagh)
To: jya@pipeline.com (John Young)
Message Hash: 8992a9de11af5946fc8ae6970bbbacd74ea63d6052d3b4e9c306c3f40627a785
Message ID: <v01510117adfe0a90b7e1@[204.62.128.229]>
Reply To: N/A
UTC Datetime: 1996-07-02 02:54:17 UTC
Raw Date: Tue, 2 Jul 1996 10:54:17 +0800
From: declan@well.com (Declan McCullagh)
Date: Tue, 2 Jul 1996 10:54:17 +0800
To: jya@pipeline.com (John Young)
Subject: Re: Technology and Privacy
Message-ID: <v01510117adfe0a90b7e1@[204.62.128.229]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
The June 11 letter was from Jack King, a quite clueful and thoughtful D.C.
attorney who has been diligent in tracking the war on (some) drugs. Hardly
an alarmist.
Why can't I quite bring myself to trust "Barrie A. Vernon?"
-Declan
> The Washington Post, July 1, 1996, p. A16.
>
>
> Technology and Privacy [Letter]
>
>
> In reference to the May 31 editorial "Plant Lights and
> Privacy" commenting on an 11th Circuit Court of Appeals
> decision to uphold the use of thermal imaging in cases
> involving indoor marijuana growing operations: The U.S.
> Supreme Court had just declined to review that 11th Circuit
> decision.
>
> On June 11, The Post published a letter from Jack King
> ["When Government Can Look Through Walls"] warning us that
> thermal imaging, as developed by the military and as used
> by civilian law enforcement agencies with the cooperation
> of the military, posed an Orwellian threat to citizens
> because the government could use the technology to tell if
> two people were making love in the privacy of their
> bedroom.
>
> To set the record straight, military thermal imaging is
> used to support civilian law enforcement only after other
> probable cause for a search warrant, such as power bills,
> observation of boarded-up windows, vents on the roof to
> draw away heat and buys by confidential informants, are
> documented. The military is then called in, using thermal
> imagers, to determine if there is an unusual heat source in
> the house as detected by heat escaping from the house. In
> dozens of cases where thermal imaging was used, I have not
> observed one case where it could detect the activity of
> people in a house, let alone a bedroom. I also have not
> observed the technology to have the ability to detect what
> people are doing in any room behind closed doors, covered
> windows and walls other than to detect blurs or shadows
> moving around behind light curtains.
>
> The United States v. Cusumano language quoted by Mr. King
> was reversed last month by the court because the original
> three judges decided it was an issue that didn't need
> deciding, i.e. the constitutionality of thermal imaging
> absent a search warrant, and did not exercise "judicial
> restraint."
>
> The trend to Mr. King's "militarization" of the war on
> drugs, based on a decision by then-secretary of defense
> Richard Cheney that drug use represented a threat to our
> national security, is being carried out with restraint,
> respect for the law and an appropriate appreciation for the
> privacy of our citizens.
>
> Barrie A. Vernon
> Alexandria
> The writer is an attorney with the National Guard Bureau at
> the Pentagon working in support of the counter-drug
> directorate.
>
> [End]
>
>
>
>
>
>
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1996-07-02 (Tue, 2 Jul 1996 10:54:17 +0800) - Re: Technology and Privacy - declan@well.com (Declan McCullagh)