ACLU Launches Echelonwatch

coldfusion writes "The American Civil Liberties Union in conjunction with EPIC and others has just launched Echelon Watch, a site which tracks developments about the intelligence gathering organization. The site does a good job of collating all of the information that has spread in the last few months. It also contains a 'write to Congress' component." Update: 11/17 09:30 by J : Baccus just informed us that the NSA has applied for a patent on Echelon-related (tapping) technology.

Comments

Okay

[True Dork]

That's it! I'm gonna start a site that watches the people who watch the Echelon people who are watching you watch me watch the people who watch the echelon people.

I think I have officially lost my mind. I'll be back in a bit.

ACLU's "Write you congressman"

[reptilian]

In case anyone is worried that their representatives don't listen to electronic mail, the ACLU's website feature faxes a copy of what you write, rather than using email. I personally have used this feature a couple of times, and have always recieved a response from my congressman (though, my senators chose to ignore it, for whatever reason. probably because they have a lot more constituents).

Even so, if you are going to write your reps, I would suggest writing a snail-mail letter as well. The style in which you write it us up to you, and probably depends on the issue at hand. If it personally affects you, hand-written might be preferable. If that's too much of a pain, ACLU's free-fax system is Good Enough - better than doing nothing at all.

Man's unique agony as a species consists in his perpetual conflict between the desire to stand out and the need to blend in.

a good echelon read..

[discore]

i have posted a very informative echelon article on my little webserver. please dont break it

you may read the article here

i hope you enjoy it.

tyler

Re:Conspiracy

[Ungrounded Lightning]

The meme that conspiracy theories are paranoid ravings is very convenient for actual conspirators.

Throughout history groups of people, especially people in high places, have conspired to obtain power and wealth at the expense of others. Many of these conspiracies were exposed and are now well documented.

Why should that have suddenly stopped in the 1960s?

Now, any particular conspiracy theory may be bogus. But don't be surprised when some of them turn out to be true.

Of COURSE the government spy agencies spy on everybody they can. That's what government spy agencies DO.

Of COURSE corrupt politicians and bureaucrats have given such information to their business cronies. Of COURSE politicians and bureaucrats, corrupt or perhaps otherwise, have given the data to industries in their countries, to give them an advantage over foreign competition. That's government at work.

Of COURSE investigative agencies have targeted politically "troublesome" opposition groups. That's where the trouble comes from, right?

And get ready for the next "Of COURSE" revalations: How investigative and law enforcement organizations have used this information to engage in "dirty trick" campaigns against members of those out groups. "Dirty tricks" that may have turned out to be horrendously damaging and sometimes fatal. Did you think that stuff stopped after COINTELPRO?

Government is a disease masquerading as its own cure.

When mailing your congressperson...

[WombatControl]

...make sure to be nice and polite. Here's a sample you can work off of...

To The Honorable XXXXXXXXXX,

My friends in the MILITIA are concerned about the government's Echelon monitoring system. While were were making BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS for our JIHAD, OSAMA BIN-LADEN told me about this system. I was so surprised that I almost dropped my WEAPONS-GRADE PLUTONIUM into the vat of ANTHRAX. The government shoud not attempt to monitor the private communications of others, even if they're talking about VINCE FOSTER or HILLARY CLINTON. Thank you for your time.

Time to amend an Amendment?

[jalefkowit]

We've almost reached the point where it's less surprising to hear about a government agency that abuses its powers than it is to hear about one that doesn't. It's not just Echelon, either -- abuses abound; for example, CNN is reporting that politicians of both parties regularly lean on the IRS to force audits of their political opponents. Now, I'm generally a politically liberal kinda guy, but in this kind of atmosphere it's not hard to understand why some people feel compelled to keep a firearm in their homes, just in case the Government decides to come after them.

Of course, stocking up arms for the End Times isn't a productive solution, either. It seems to me that the big problem here is that Americans don't have a clear right to privacy in their communications -- we only have patchwork protections from case law, which provides a legal gray area where the government can fit things like Echelon. So what can we, as citizens, do? Well, maybe we should amend the Fourth Amendment, which currently protects your private property from illegal government seizure, to extend to non-physical personal property (i.e. electronic communications) as well.

Currently, Amendment IV reads as follows:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

I'd propose adding a few simple words (which I'll denote in bold):

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, effects, and all personal communications, regardless of medium, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Now, IANAL, and I'm certainly willing to be flexible on the wording, but it seems to me that an addition along these lines could have many salutory effects:

• It would finally end the uncertainty as to whether or not Americans have a full-fledged right to privacy by elevating it to the same level as the right to speak freely or bear arms
• It could bring electronic communications up to the same standard of protection as, say, letters you keep in your desk drawer, which AFAIK can't be seized w/o a search warrant
• It would still allow wiretaps for national security or compelling law enforcement purposes, while making huge, broad-based wiretaps like Echelon clearly and undoubtedly unconstitutional
• It would send a powerful message that we're fed up with this kind of unacceptable behavior from our government

Now, I'm generally not a fan of tinkering with the Constitution, which has worked remarkably well for 200+ years. But I'm simply amazed that something as obtrusive, as invasive, as downright un-American as Echelon isn't unconstitutional on its face. In an age of digital communications and restrictions on hard encryption, when it's orders of magnitude easier for the State to intrude on our privacy then it is for us to protect ourselves, I think that a right to privacy is every bit as important to our freedom as are the other rights we enumerate in the Bill of Rights. And if we have to wrest that right back from the state by enshrining it in the highest law of the land, then maybe it's time to do just that.

-- Jason A. Lefkowitz