Spying Has Few Legal Checks Baltimore Sun (07/07/08) P. 1A; Olson, Bradley
as it appeared in the July 7, 2008 edition of ACM TechNews.
U.S. citizens' communications, travel patterns, and spending habits are being monitored and analyzed for suspicious activity by domestic surveillance programs run by federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies, and these programs have few legal restrictions. Although protecting Americans' privacy is the goal of provisions contained in pending amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, there is little oversight for surveillance programs that fall outside the bounds of FISA. Critics say the safeguards are not infallible, while Congress has often held back funding for surveillance programs because it is dissatisfied with the information the administration has provided about the programs. Such was the reasoning behind the House Appropriations Committee's recent decision to stall funding for an initiative by the National Applications Office to use American satellites for domestic purposes until August, when the Government Accountability Office will issue a report about how the program will address civil liberties and privacy concerns. Lawmakers say even in instances where Congress has received information about surveillance programs, their questions or concerns are frequently handled by the agency responsible for surveillance, which adds up to self-policing. Partially to address concerns about privacy, the Homeland Security Department has set up a privacy czar to guarantee that the technologies and programs initiated by the agency do not violate civil liberties or chip away at privacy laws, but some believe the position should be expanded to a Cabinet-level post in the executive branch. "We should have what Canada has, which is a minister of privacy, someone looking out for the privacy issues of Americans," says intelligence expert James Bamford. "We have armies of people out there trying to pick into everyone's private life, but we have nobody out there who's an advocate." Click Here to View Full Article
