It’s Orwellian to say that gagging someone is protecting them. But that’s what the headline says: “Librarians Protected in Patriot Act Case” (a more complete story is here).
The PATRIOT Act says that librarians who have been forced by the FBI to disclose information about library patrons are not allowed to mention that they have been involved in the FBI’s investigation. Now, a librarian, “John Doe,” wants to talk. Doe wants to testify before Congress about his experiences with the PATRIOT Act, to contribute to discussion about the act’s renewal later this year. A U.S. District Court judge lifted the gag order, but the government has now counter-sued, and Doe is still gagged.
The only thing that is “protected” is Doe’s identity, and this is not what Doe wants. Yet, by being prevented from speaking, according to Wired News, Doe is being “protected.”
In other news, a new spy device is being developed. Plug it into a computer’s USB port, and it records all exchanges (email, IM, chat) that appear on the computer screen. It can also be used to allow a remote user to put up messages on the screen or take over applications. “It doesn’t matter what app they’re using, because we can capture everything with this system,” says a developer.
So what is Wired’s spin? “Black Box Monitors Pervs.” Yes, the main purpose of this box, according to the article, is to help police help victims catch cyberstalkers. The bulk of the article is about various clever ways police can use the box to help you--with your permission, of course.
How often do you inspect the USB ports on the back of each computer you use, including those at work and in cybercafes? Sure, much of the same functionality could be achieved with software, which might be even harder to detect. But this appears to allow even non-computer-literates to hijack machines with less than a minute of physical access.
If Wired reflects--or guides--the future of technology development, their apparent embracing of Orwellian technologies and laws does not bode well.
[edited after further browsing to append the following:]
Wired isn’t all bad. They also recently did a lengthy story on the government’s use of the nearly-omnipotent “state secrets privilege” to squash a patent-infringement lawsuit, which includes the statement, “Indeed, the list of cases in which the state secrets privilege has been invoked seems a pantheon of injustice. .... And in perhaps the most disturbing case, this year the Justice Department asserted the privilege to kill a lawsuit by Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen who, in 2002, was picked up by U.S. officials as a suspected terrorist while changing planes at JFK, and promptly shipped off to Syria for a year of imprisonment and torture.”
Mike Treder is a fellow of the IEET, and the Executive Director of the non-profit
Center for Responsible Nanotechnology, an organization working to raise awareness of the issues presented by advanced nanotechnology.
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Orwellian ideas from Wired News
Posted: Sep 22, 2005
It’s Orwellian to say that gagging someone is protecting them. But that’s what the headline says: “Librarians Protected in Patriot Act Case” (a more complete story is here).
The PATRIOT Act says that librarians who have been forced by the FBI to disclose information about library patrons are not allowed to mention that they have been involved in the FBI’s investigation. Now, a librarian, “John Doe,” wants to talk. Doe wants to testify before Congress about his experiences with the PATRIOT Act, to contribute to discussion about the act’s renewal later this year. A U.S. District Court judge lifted the gag order, but the government has now counter-sued, and Doe is still gagged.
The only thing that is “protected” is Doe’s identity, and this is not what Doe wants. Yet, by being prevented from speaking, according to Wired News, Doe is being “protected.”
In other news, a new spy device is being developed. Plug it into a computer’s USB port, and it records all exchanges (email, IM, chat) that appear on the computer screen. It can also be used to allow a remote user to put up messages on the screen or take over applications. “It doesn’t matter what app they’re using, because we can capture everything with this system,” says a developer.
So what is Wired’s spin? “Black Box Monitors Pervs.” Yes, the main purpose of this box, according to the article, is to help police help victims catch cyberstalkers. The bulk of the article is about various clever ways police can use the box to help you--with your permission, of course.
How often do you inspect the USB ports on the back of each computer you use, including those at work and in cybercafes? Sure, much of the same functionality could be achieved with software, which might be even harder to detect. But this appears to allow even non-computer-literates to hijack machines with less than a minute of physical access.
If Wired reflects--or guides--the future of technology development, their apparent embracing of Orwellian technologies and laws does not bode well.
[edited after further browsing to append the following:]
Wired isn’t all bad. They also recently did a lengthy story on the government’s use of the nearly-omnipotent “state secrets privilege” to squash a patent-infringement lawsuit, which includes the statement, “Indeed, the list of cases in which the state secrets privilege has been invoked seems a pantheon of injustice. .... And in perhaps the most disturbing case, this year the Justice Department asserted the privilege to kill a lawsuit by Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen who, in 2002, was picked up by U.S. officials as a suspected terrorist while changing planes at JFK, and promptly shipped off to Syria for a year of imprisonment and torture.”
Mike Treder is a fellow of the IEET, and the Executive Director of the non-profit
Center for Responsible Nanotechnology, an organization working to raise awareness of the issues presented by advanced nanotechnology.
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