At 12:02 PM -0700 5/31/97, Marc Rotenberg wrote:
To be clear, I do believe that there should be laws to protect the right of privacy and that there should be an office within the federal government to advocate on behalf of privacy interests. I also believe that if such an agency had been established in 1991 when it was proposed, it would have been much harder for the government to push subsequently for digital telephony, Clipper, GAK, etc.
I am somewhat surprised that you would make this claim, given that you must have researched the situation in Europe for your article. European style Privacy Commissioners solely limit the ability of _private_ entities to keep databases. They do not limit the ability of public entities to keep databases. Sure, when a European government wants to bring a new Big Brother database online, the Privacy Commissioner has to sign off on the plan. This is typically a rubber stamp approval. Even worse, the Privacy Commissioner rubber stamping the plan usually ends discussion, since the government now can claim that their database is harmless because the Privacy Commissioner has approved it. German "dragnet investigations" and "pattern investigations" come to mind. The German BKA (the equivalent of the FBI) keeps a giant database that correlates "suspicious" behavior. Paying your utilities bills in cash (unusual in GIRO-happy Germany) gets you points. If the person on the bill isn't registered with the police at the address on the bill you get more points. Paying your rent in cash gets you points. If they don't have a social security record for you, more points yet. There are many other criteria that will get you points. If you collect enough points, the feds come by to interrogate you. Yes, the Privacy Commissioner approved this "pattern investigation". In the interest of space, I will spare the list what "dragnet investigation" entails. It appears naive to claim that GAK could not happen under a Privacy Commissioner. It could and it will. --Lucky Green <shamrock@netcom.com> PGP encrypted mail preferred. Put a stake through the heart of DES! Join the quest at http://www.frii.com/~rcv/deschall.htm