Closer Look: How technology can endanger our freedom
By Jack Robertson
EBN
(07/02/02 14:22 p.m. EST)
Eleven score and six years ago our forefathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation conceived in liberty -- but they certainly could not ever imagine the technological threats that one day could imperil the freedoms they so cherished.
This July 4 as we celebrate the nation's birth, we who are heirs to this heritage of freedom may also not imagine the new threats any more than the founders.
Ubiquitous electronic surveillance of air waves by the National Security Agency and other agencies puts private conversations at risk of federal eavesdropping. We are assured that the Feds are only looking for terrorists, spies and other nefarious subjects. We accept the assurances because we want adequateintelligence to unmask terrorists' plots. And because we trust that the infinite mass of electronic snooping has great trouble ferreting out the target suspects, let alone John Q. and Susie Public.
The FBI last year ran into political heat for a previously secret program to monitor e-mail traffic without a court order. Authorities said the project has been canceled. But the capability always lurks in the background.
The terrorist threat has generated its own potential attacks on personal liberty.
Take the simple proposal of Trusted Air Passenger Check-in. Frequent travelers would be pre-screened and approved for speedy airport security check-in. Each cleared traveler would get a biometric authentication card -- either fingerprint, handprint or iris verification. But the government data base of personal information gained for pre-clearance is subject to abuse. And each airport check-in could provide a convenient automated government log of personal travel.
Proposals for a national biometric ID card for citizens and legal immigrants would expand this government monitoring to wider dimensions of potential surveillance.
The increasing use of camera surveillance of vast areas of public life opens new civil liberty questions. With face matching recognition technology, authorities can fairly readily track any targeted person, nefarious or otherwise.
We tolerate such surveillance bordering on Orwell's 1984 Big Brother as a safeguard for security. It is a disturbing question on what happens in one of the next waves of political hysteria -- McCarthyism, unpopular mass protests, new dirty tricks and enemies lists -- that periodically engulf the country.
The amazing part is how easy we make it for government snoopers to pry into our private lives, without resorting to elaborate intelligence schemes. If commercial marketers can accumulate a dossier on our behavior simply by monitoring our e-mail purchases, or even web browsing, the government can certainly do as well, or more. Frankly, I don't like the invasion of privacy from browser cookies for business purposes, and fear government intrusion even more.
A few technocrats have questioned if Microsoft Corp.'s secure Passport option can be breached, particularly if users don't follow procedures to the letter every time. Passport stores the user password and financial data on the server site for ease of tranactions with a vast array of businesses. Microsoft's upcoming encrypted Palladium e-mail software program has also raised some eyebrows. Microsoft firmly assures that neither security option can be compromised.
In the wake of 9/11, it would seem that July 4 might not be the best time to raise surveillance concerns. Hung in the dilemma of protecting the homeland and still maintaining the freedoms we celebrate, we have no easy answers. |
