From: Chris Russo (extropy@russo.org)
Date: Thu Feb 01 2001 - 20:58:33 MST
>Because next thing you know it will be used to automatically track
>the comings and goings of targeted noncriminal individuals.
Is that really a guaranteed slippery slope? Wasn't the same thing
said about wire tapping? As with any law enforcement technology,
this surveillance equipment will require heavy restrictions upon its
use. In the main, I'd think that it should only be used to search
for known criminals or suspects under investigation, in which case
the proper warrants should be required.
> Stakeouts
>are manpower intensive. Not anymore--set up one of these doohickeys,
>or several, near the target area--and automatically record and ID
>everyone who comes and goes.
I would think that storing those records would be illegal, and at
very least such evidence should be inadmissible in a court of law.
>Their faces will already be on record
>from drivers licenses. Set 'em up outside porno shops, see who
>visits. Outside areas where political rallies are held. At major
>intersections. Track everyone, everywhere, all the time--
>automatically. Then just punch in a name and see where he's been for
>the past ten years.
>
>I'd call those tactics a real problem.
C'mon, haven't we all come to realize that the whole Orwellian
scenario never happened and it's unlikely to happen as long as
citizens don't become total sheep? And no, I'm not advocating acting
like a sheep by allowing law enforcement agents to have better tools
to do their jobs.
With this law enforcement equipment, technologies like genetic
engineering, and freedoms like legal drug use, it's easy to see
slippery slopes everywhere that lead to disaster. Does that mean
that we should just give up on them?
The key is to recognize and actively enforce the responsibilities
upon the parties that stand to increase their liberties.
Regards,
Chris Russo
--
"If anyone can show me, and prove to me, that I am wrong in thought
or deed, I will gladly change. I seek the truth, which never yet
hurt anybody. It is only persistence in self-delusion and ignorance
which does harm."
-- Marcus Aurelius, MEDITATIONS, VI, 21
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 08:05:32 MST