RIGHT TO PRIVACY

• The central witness in a California lawsuit against AT&T says the government is vacuuming up billions of emails and phone calls as they pass through an AT&T switching station in San Francisco. Every call, email and Internet site access on AT&T lines is being diverted and copied onto a government supercomputer, according to a retired AT&T technician. And there are as many as 20 such sites in the US. (Definition Changing for People’s Privacy, The Associated Press, November 11, 2007)
• According to conservative scholar Bruce Fein, regarding the expansion of presidential power under Bush and Cheney, “when [they are out to collect foreign intelligence, no other branch can tell [them] what to do. That means [they] can intercept your emails, your phone calls, open your regular mail, [they] can break and enter your home, [they] can even kidnap you, claiming [they] are seeking foreign intelligence and there is no other branch—Congress can’t make it illegal, judges can’t say this is illegal. [They] can do anything [they] want.” (The Power of the Presidency, Bill Moyers Journal, October 26, 2007)
• In the last week of November, 2007, the Supreme Court let stand a disturbing ruling out of California that allows law enforcement to barge into people’s homes without a warrant. It hasn’t prompted much outrage, perhaps because the people whose privacy is being invaded are welfare recipients, but it is a serious setback for the privacy rights of all Americans. Applicants for welfare benefits are visited by law enforcement agents, who show up unannounced and examine the family’s home, including the insides of cabinets and closets. Applicants who refuse to let the agents in are generally denied benefits. The problem is that according to the Fourth Amendment, for a search to be reasonable, there must be some kind of individualized suspicion of wrongdoing. (A Loss of Privacy Rights, New York Times, November 28, 2007)
• The visits were not “voluntary” because the welfare applicants were not told they could withhold consent, and that they risked dire consequences if they resisted and called this “an assault on the poor.” When the government is allowed to show up unannounced without a warrant and search people’s homes, it’s bad news for all of us. (A Loss of Privacy Rights, New York Times, November 28, 2007)