The major newspapers around the country ran stories last July on something that hasn't seemed to make the local news--the ready availability of individuals' phone records for the right price. See, for example, this story in the Chicago Sun-Times and this one in the Washington Post.
Some states are beginning to take action. Illinois governor Blagojevich plans action, as noted in the Chicago Tribune, here, earlier this year. And bloggers are urging further attention to the matter. See this story on AMERICAblog.
This loss of privacy is a concern for us all, because once these records become easily accessible, commercial companies and nosy neighbors will be able to spy on every person.
But if that doesn't frighten you enough, what about the Defense department's goals. Consider this story from CBS in 2003, regarding DARPA's plans for a database that can track intimate details of individual's lives. This Big Brother project has immense ramifications for privacy. Then of course, there is DARPA's "Terrorism Information Awareness" (TIP) database. See this Heritage Foundation article supporting creation of the DARPA database, this American Library Association site discussing the defunded program, and this 2003 story about Congress's effort to end the TIP program by cutting off funding. They have said they are no longer developing it, but can we be confident that this database does not exist?
Defense has already developed, with a private marketing firm, a database of high school and college students, supposedly for recruiting purposes. The database will include significant information about each students, including birthdate, social security number, subjects studies, grade point average and ethnicity. The database could well be a small start to something much bigger, if the information is retained and added to over the person's lifetime. See this June 2005 Washington Post story. As the story notes, information on children is already required by law to be provided by schools to the military under the so-called "No Child Left Behind" Act.
Under the new system, additional data will be collected from commercial data brokers, state drivers' license records and other sources, including information already held by the military.
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The system also gives the Pentagon the right, without notifying citizens, to share the data for numerous uses outside the military, including with law enforcement, state tax authorities and Congress. Id.
These efforts have to be taken into consideration in connection with Bush's claims of "super-presidential" powers under the "unitary presidency" theory to override national laws when he deems it appropriate. Claiming such powers, he has ordered warrantless spying on Americans outside the process for checks and balances. Claiming such powers, he has held American citizens in military brig without due process rights. What more may he have already done, or what more might he be planning? These are issues of grave Constitutional concern for every single American citizen.
These growing efforts by the executive branch to compile personal information on individual citizens represent a grave threat to privacy. Individuals may well feel concern about expressing dissent if they know that the military maintains a database that includes personal data about them and their loved ones. Our local media should be writing and broadcasting about these serious issues every day. To do less is to permit an unchecked presidency and the bloated military that supports it to gain enormous power that threatens our democracy.