More on domestic surveillance...

For this week's 'toon, I wanted to stay away from the legal issues (which I touched on in this 'toon) and the theoretical social problems (which I talked about here) involved with the N.S.A.'s domestic spying program, so I could focus on issues like historical context and scope. But that doesn't mean I didn't read some good stuff on those other issues...

• Check out Glenn Greenwald on the gutsy decision a couple months ago by District Court Judge Anna Diggs Taylor, which flat rejected almost all of Bush's domestic spying program on almost all grounds. The fact that she even held that the program violates the First and Fourth Amendments is important because this would not be overcome by a Specter "compromise" bill (that, seemingly, would just let Bush do whatever he wants anyway). See more great stuff on the Taylor decision from Julie Hilden (twice).
  
  The decision was stayed until it could be reviewed by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, which apparently will happen on January 31st. From there, it will probably go to the Supreme Court...


• Guess what? George W. Bush just declared in a signing statement that he has the right to open your mail without a warrant... and you bet your ass he's gonna do it. At what point have we officially crossed the line from "free society" to "police state?" Will someone let me know when it happens?


• Robert Parry on the previously proposed Total Information Awareness program, which was to include the use of "transactional data" (financial, educational, travel, medical, etc.) and "biometric signatures" (faces, fingerprints, gaits, and irises). The proposed office even set off alarms with the Da Vinci code conspiracy crowd, who noted the Masonic symbol in the logo and the ominous acronym that was going to be used.


• As far as I can tell, the use of surveillance cameras has not been identified as being part of the N.S.A.'s current snooping activities... but would you put it past them? Apparently, it's not outside the realm of possibility in the Western world these days... some sources say there are over 4 million surveillance cameras overlooking the streets in the UK, many with listening capabilities. I've noticed a few here and there in downtown Seattle... who do they belong to?


• Lots on the historical context of the current N.S.A. program, including this super-cool site from GWU with documents describing previous programs such as ECHELON, SHAMROCK, MINARET, CHAOS, and COINTELPRO. It also recounts the genesis of the FISA law that Dubya is openly violating, which, at the time of its development, was (of course) vehemently opposed by then-Ford staffers Don Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney.
  
  As one would expect, the ACLU has an excellent page on warrantless wiretapping, and also check out this cool online documentary from Julian Bond. See also Tim Shorrock on the scope and history of such programs.

See also my previous posts on this stuff...