THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VIII, Issue # 27, February 6, 2006
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
YOU'RE UNDER SURVEILLANCE
By Alan Caruba
U.S. INTELLIGENCE & COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITY DURING TIME OF WAR: THE NATIONAL SECURITY
ADMINISTRATION, ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS SURVEILLANCE, & AMERICAN HOMELAND SECURITY --
GOVERNMENT INTERCEPTION & MONITORING OF TERRORISTS' & SUSPECTED TERRORISTS' TELEPHONE MESSAGES:
ESSENTIAL TO DEFENDING THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AGAINST ITS JIHADIST ENEMIES, PREVENTING FURTHER
TERRORIST ATTACKS INSIDE THE U.S.A., & SAVING THE LIVES OF NUMEROUS AMERICANS
FULL STORY:
In the midst of all the hypocritical and self-righteous talk about the fact that the National Security Agency actually listens to
calls from known or suspected terrorists talking to someone in the United States or vice versa, is the fact that every single
American is under surveillance these days. It begins with the Social Security number that is issued to newborn infants!
There is hardly a purchase you make that isn’t monitored for the purpose of selling more of the same or identifying you as a
potential customer for something else. As Robert O’Harrow, Jr., a Washington Post reporter and author of No
Place to Hide, says, “Almost every aspect of our lives is being recorded by someone, somewhere.”
Is it time to get very paranoid, or is this just the way business conducts marketing research these days? The answer is the
latter. This is particularly true when it comes to your credit rating and credit card activity.
Like a lot of Americans, I pay a company to constantly monitor my credit status and report back to me, if anything odd
occurs with one of my cards. Why pay attention to that? Well, identity theft is almost ridiculously easy.
Not too long ago, more than forty million credit card numbers were hacked from MasterCard International, Inc., and Bank
of America lost the financial information data for 1.2 million federal workers.
Not a day goes by when I don’t receive emails from fictitious Ebay, PayPal, banking, and credit card operations “phishing”
for my credit card and financial information.
However, when it’s the government that’s taking an interest in these otherwise mundane activities, then the opportunity to
cross the line becomes a potential invasion of privacy, if a warrant has not been issued. That should be a cause of legitimate
concern.
As it is, the government asks for and voluntarily receives tons of personal information every time you interact with any
aspect of it. And what they don’t have, they can get from a company such as Acxiom, described by Harrow as “a
billion-dollar player in the data industry, with details about nearly every adult in the United States.” It is now working closely
with Homeland Security officials.
I love the “CSI: Crime Scene Investigators” television series. What fun to see its characters run a computer check on some
victim or suspect and watch as all kinds of information becomes almost instantly available. Where do you think that
information comes from? Do you have a driver’s license? Have you ever received a speeding or parking ticket? Do you work
for the government or a branch of the military service?
Why Americans would get exercised over government surveillance at this point is a bit surprising, given the fact that a whole
bunch of government agencies, from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to various intelligence agencies, have routinely been
keeping an eye on all kinds of criminals and, thankfully, on our enemies.
Anyone who works for a corporation is under surveillance. A recent report, based on a survey by the ePolicy Institute in
cooperation with the American Management Association, revealed that nine out of ten companies engage in workplace
surveillance; primarily monitoring computer use. Two-thirds wanted to know what websites employees visit while on the job.
Just over half of the 500 U.S. employers reported that they monitor phone calls and about one-in-five taped calls. More than
half reported using video monitors.
There are some very good reasons for this. Corporations can be held accountable for the misbehavior of employees when they
are on the job and, perhaps, uploading nude pictures of children to their favorite pedophile website. Corporations need to fend
off sexual harassment, hostile work-environment, and claims of wrongful termination lawsuits. Just as important, companies
need to detect any source of leaks about their products or services to competitors, about sensitive merger talks, and even
unfounded rumors.
Video surveillance is so commonplace these days that you are being watched in supermarkets, department stores, and
countless other places.
Is it wrong for the government to tap your phone or read your mail without a warrant? Yes. It has always been wrong, but the
current NSA flap is about listening to traffic from outside the U.S.A. to people inside who may be planning to kill a lot of us.
Since this occurs at the speed of sound, the need to get a warrant has been overtaken by modern technology.
Key members of Congress knew about the NSA program and were briefed on a regular basis. Did any one of them complain
before The New York Times, after sitting on the story for over a year and being personally requested by the President
to keep it secret, choose to reveal it just before one of its reporters published a book on the topic? In my view, The Times,
the reporter, and probably the publisher of his book should be indicted for sedition. If the public’s “right to know” supercedes
the need to protect that same public against a declared enemy, this nation is in deep trouble.
My feeling is that most Americans understand what is at stake, being fully aware that the nation is at war with a merciless,
deranged enemy and that such surveillance is a vital element of the war on terrorism.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Disloyalty, Subversion, Sedition, & Treason
Terrorism & American Homeland Security
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
Counterterrorism & U.S. National Security
U.S. Intelligence & America's National Security
U.S. National Security Strategy
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a
clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly commentary, "Warning Signs," posted
on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center, which is located at
www.anxietycenter.com.
© Alan Caruba 2006
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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