Re: [TSCM-L] Re: Patriot Act gets even more pathetic

Greg, et al.,

(a) This is almost surely becoming a waste of good
people's mental bandwidth; might the moderator step
in and say so?

(b) As to the "discussion," I am not in favor of lots
of things that are nevertheless inevitable and maybe even
already prevalent whether I like them or not.  You think
I like surveillance?  Not one tiny bit.  No way.  No how.
I hate it.  I hate the reason for it.  I hate the people
whose actions cause me to have to think about surveillance.
But surveillance looks rather inevitable in our present
situation where the means of surveillance are ever more
cheaply fielded, the bad people have ever more power to
do bad things plus they can count on instant worldwide
visibility when they do, and the public demands safety
from the present danger.

With respect,

--dan


Insightful/Inciteful Survey
---------------------------

    1   Do you plan to enroll in the Registered Traveller
    Program & are you more or less willing to give up your
    biometrics if the RTP is privatized?

    2    Are you OK with surveillance cameras in public places;
    US density or UK density?

    3    You on-board with Gilmore v. Ashcroft, that travel is a
    right not a privilege that requires identification?

    4    Are license plate cameras and road use fees as will
    soon obtain in California OK from your point of view?

    5    What about time of day electric pricing which, after
    all, absolutely will contain the information about when you
    are home or not?

    6    Would you require a warrant for a through-the-wall
    infrared picture taken by a photographer standing in the
    middle of a public street; and would it matter if that
    person were a lunatic, a relative, or the gendarmes?

    7    Is recording WIFI signalling from your house (I can see
    a dozen) amateur surveillance or a protected freedom?

    8    Are Google search records rightfully accessible to a
    Grand Jury?

    9    Bluetooth antennas and amplifiers are cheap; should
    that mean they require a license?

   10    Have you disabled the black box in your car; should it
   be a crime to do so?

   11    Have you tried to make a substantial purchase or bank
   deposit using cash lately?

   12    Is Know-Your-Customer actually a surveillance
   requirement imposed on an unwillingly deputized private
   sector?

   13    If you carry a cell phone, what do you make of the E911
   laws which effectively make any cell phone into a tracking
   device, and should tracking be monetized by the cell firms
   that were legislated into collecting it in the first place?

   14    Are the kinds of revelation that must appear in public
   documents like divorce proceedings something you are
   comfortable with being on the web instead of a filing
   cabinet?

   15    Is anonymous e-mail transmission something that ought
   to be banned while encryption is to be encouraged?

   16    If Google Earth had access to the full precision the
   military has would you change what you do in your backyard
   and is your answer based on in whom you trust?

   17    What do you think of laws that require every person
   arrested to give DNA samples?

   18    Is it possible to forbid the collection of data that
   costs nothing to collect?

   19    Is it possible to require the deletion of data that
   costs nothing to keep?

   20    EZ Pass keeps toll records for ten years because it was
   a condition of license imposed by the State of New Jersey; OK
   by you?

   21    Do you agree with John Poindexter that we do not need
   any more data at all, we only have to put together all that
   we already have?