Open Letter to the News Media
Please copy and distribute freely.
From: Robert E. (Red) Daly Thank you so much for your continued, non-stop coverage of the exciting Washington sex scandals. Without it, we, the public, would have nothing to entertain us except dull, boring talk about complicated things like Congress repealing that pesky 4th Amendment. Our trustworthy law enforcement agencies have been hindered from turning America into a police state in their battle to protect us from child pornographers, dope dealers, terrorists, free thinkers, intellectuals and political dissidents for far too long now. By keeping the spotlight of public awareness focused on the scandal circus you help these radical new expansions of government power to become law. If you don't bother the people with any tedious explanations of Constitutional rights or useless debates about erosion of personal privacy or liberty, benevolent dictators can quietly take control of this country without any trouble at all. Just keep your spotlight on the clowns a little longer so nobody will stumble across any disturbing new stories like the following: |
12:50 PM ET 10/08/98 Reuters US Lawmakers Sneak Through Controversial Wiretap Law WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Without debate or notice, U.S. lawmakers were poised Thursday to approve a proposal long sought by the FBI that would dramatically expand wiretapping authority -- an idea Congress openly rejected many years ago. The provision, allowing law enforcement agencies to more easily tap any telephone used by or near a target individual instead of getting authorization to tap specific phones, was added to the Intelligence Authorization Conference report during a closed door meeting and filed with the House and Senate Monday. The conference report was easily adopted by the House on Wednesday, despite an objection to the wiretapping provision from Georgia Republican Bob Barr and is expected to be approved by the Senate later on Thursday. Neither the House nor the Senate had included the provision, known as roving wiretap authority, in their versions of the intelligence bill, but lawmakers drafting the conference report, essentially a reconciliation of the two versions, decided to include it. Civil liberties groups were outraged by the expanded wiretapping authority and the process of adding the provision in secret. "Roving wiretaps are a major expansion of current government surveillance power," said Alan Davidson, staff counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington. "To take a controversial provision that affects the fundamental constitutional liberties of the people and pass it behind closed doors shows a shocking disregard for our democratic process." Under current rules, law enforcement agencies seeking roving wiretap authority from a judge must prove that an individual is switching telephones specifically for the purpose of evading a surveillance. The standard has been difficult to meet and kept the number of roving wiretaps approved to a minimum, a telephone industry official said. Without roving authority, police must get permission from a judge for each telephone line to be tapped. Under the change approved this week, the police would need show only that an individual's, "actions could have the effect of thwarting interception from a specific facility." The change removed the need to consider the target's motive in using different telephones. |
| October 7, 1998 Stop the FBI's Dangerous "Wish List" of Warrantless Wiretaps and Seizures WASHINGTON, DC -- While Republicans are busy attacking Bill Clinton, the FBI is busy planning a sneak attack on your privacy. "The FBI wants more power to tap your phone, read your computer messages, and seize your car," said the Libertarian Party's national director, Steve Dasbach. "And as this Congressional session draws to a close, they're scheming for a way to sneak these powers into legislation without a recorded vote." This past week, secret documents were leaked to Congress by an employee of the Department of Justice, revealing an FBI "wish list" of legislation it wants to tack onto larger bills at the last minute to allegedly combat "domestic terrorism." According to Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA), the FBI wants the power to conduct roving wiretaps without a court order, force telecommunications companies to disclose information about customers, and expand its ability to confiscate cars and other property. "Only two categories of Americans should be worried by this legislation: People who have committed a crime and people who haven't," Dasbach said. "If this domestic police agency has its way, every American who talks on the phone, uses a computer, or drives a car will fear having their conversations monitored or their property seized by federal agents." The powers requested by the FBI would be in addition to the current Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) secret courts, which already have the power to authorize FBI and National Security Agency wiretaps and clandestine searches -- and are doing so at a record pace. Over the past three years, the number of secret surveillance operations approved by FISA courts has jumped by 38%. Created in 1978 to fight terrorism and domestic spies, the FISA courts operate out of a sound-proof room on the sixth floor of the Justice Department. Astonishingly, even though the FISA courts already grant almost every FBI request -- according to federal records, the secret courts have approved 11,950 applications for wiretaps and searches, while turning down only one for lack of evidence -- the FBI wants more power. And what's even scarier is that the FBI wants to get those new powers added to a spending bill without hearings or debate. "Politicians and bureaucrats have a history of sneaking through unpopular legislation without a vote," Dasbach noted. For example: * The Lautenberg gun control act was quietly inserted into an omnibus appropriations bill passed in 1996. * The most recent Congressional pay hike was slipped into the massive Treasury Department appropriations bill last year without a recorded vote. * The national ID card was buried on page 600 of the 1,300-page Illegal Immigration Reform Act, which was passed as Congress rushed to adjourn in 1996. "Call it government by stealth," Dasbach said. "When politicians are ashamed to pass outrageous laws in the light of day, they sneak them past in the dark of night. Democrats and Republicans have created an America where you can literally wake up one morning and find that your freedom to have a private phone conversation or send a confidential e-mail has vanished." But isn't fighting terrorism a laudable goal? "Of course it is," Dasbach said. "But, as demonstrated by the fact that
FISA secret courts approve 99.99% of the government's wiretap requests, federal law
enforcement already has too much power to spy on Americans. That's why we have our own
wish list: We wish the FBI would stop spying on us, invading our privacy, seizing our
property, and demanding more invasive powers. Wars on Terrorism and Drugs should not be
used as an excuse for another war on Americans' rights." |
| September 29, 1998 New Bill Will Allow Police to "Steal Cash" from Travelers WASHINGTON, DC -- It may soon be a crime to get on a plane or drive down the highway in America with too much money. That's because a bill before the Senate Judiciary Committee would allow police to assume that anyone traveling with more than $10,000 in cash in so-called "drug transit areas" is a drug dealer -- and confiscate all their money. "Tourists and business travelers, take note: You may soon have to fear being mugged by your own government," warned Steve Dasbach, Libertarian Party national director. "Your government wants the power to label you a criminal and seize all your money with no proof that you've committed a crime. In other words, your government is about to give police a license to steal." The bill in question -- the Drug Currency Forfeitures Act -- is sponsored by Senators Max Cleland (D-GA) and Charles Grassley (R-IA). The senators say their bill is designed to "hit drug dealers where it hurts the most: In the wallet." The bill allows police to seize cash from any American traveling through a drug transit area -- defined as an airport, highway, or port of entry -- and would force citizens to go to court to try to get the money back. "Accusations without proof? Punishments without trials? Welcome to America in 1998," said Dasbach. "With this bill, two U.S. Senators want to gut the Constitution -- and strip away fundamental rights like the presumption of innocence and the right to carry money without having to explain your actions to the government." One of the most repugnant provisions of the bill, Dasbach said, is that people who want their money back will face a "rebuttable presumption" of guilt. In other words, they most prove they are innocent. "Senator Cleland complained that courts frequently throw out money-laundering cases for lack of evidence, so his innovative solution was to stop requiring evidence -- and simply allow police to steal your money," Dasbach said. "Instead of the government proving that you are guilty, you must prove that you are innocent." /p> But why would anyone carry around $10,000 in cash, if they're not a drug dealer? "It's none of the government's business -- period," Dasbach said. "The idea that any American should have to explain to the police where their money came from is offensive, and the idea that the police can pocket your money if they don't like your answers is downright criminal." In previous well-documented cases, he noted, the government has seized money from a business traveler who had planned major cash purchases for his company, and from a foreign-born American who was bringing cash to relatives in another country. In both cases, the courts ruled that the seizure was improper, and the victims eventually got most of their money back from the government. This bill would reverse those kinds of cases, Dasbach predicted, by essentially creating a new type of crime: Driving While Rich and Flying While Affluent -- all in the name of the War on Drugs. "What the Drug Currency Forfeitures Act really shows is that once
again, the War on Drugs has become an all-purpose excuse for a War on Your Rights, such as
the right to a fair trial and the right to get on an airplane or drive down the highway
without having to explain yourself to a policeman," Dasbach said. "If Americans
don't put a stop to this, the politicians will not only steal all our money -- they will
also steal all our Constitutional rights." |
