From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
Date: Sat, 4 Oct 1997 02:05:25 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Netly News special report: "The Privacy Snatchers"
Message-ID: <v03007804b05adf24f7ea@[204.254.21.103]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



Recently the FBI has started to demand a creepy new anti-privacy
law. It requires that all future technologies -- from cell
phones to WordPerfect -- include a kind of electronic peephole
to let law enforcement agents snoop through your private files
and communications without your knowledge or permission. One
House committee has already approved the FBI's bill.

Such easy access is the fantasy of every unethical policeman and
corrupt bureaucrat. Now, the police say they'll never peek
through this peephole without a judge's approval. But history
reveals that time and again, the FBI, the military and other law
enforcement organizations have ignored the law and spied on
Americans illegally, without court authorization. Government
agencies have subjected hundreds of thousands of law-abiding
Americans to unjust surveillance, illegal wiretaps and
warrantless searches. Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King,
feminists, gay rights leaders and Catholic priests were spied on.
Even Supreme Court justices were monitored. Can we trust the FBI?

Visit the Netly News for a special report on The Privacy Snatchers:

  http://cgi.pathfinder.com/netly/opinion/0,1042,1466,00.html

-Declan


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http://cgi.pathfinder.com/netly/opinion/0,1042,1466,00.html
The Netly News (http://netlynews.com/)
October 3, 1997
The Privacy Snatchers
By Declan McCullagh (declan@well.com)

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-------------------------
Declan McCullagh
Time Inc.
The Netly News Network
Washington Correspondent
http://netlynews.com/