Yet another example of government abuse of access to information, also in the name of "national security" in the wake of 9/11. CNN.com is featuring a story that the Inspector General (IG) for the Justice Dept. has identified "serious misuse" of national security letters, which are used to retrieve information without formal issuance of subpoena or warrant. This capability was designed to allow for secret investigations that would not tip off, in particular, terrorists (though I believe I read somewhere that organized crime and drug cartels have been the primary targets of these investigations).
The main problem here, folks, is that we want formal paper to be issued for searches and seizures. This is the whole principle of the 3-way check-n-balance system designed into the Constitution. The Executive branch (of which Justice is a component -- don't confuse Justice Dept with the Judicial Branch) has made a tremendous power grab since 2001, and only to the detriment of the citizenry. Your rights, your privacy, your freedoms are being violated -- and all in secret, because the current administration believes that security through obscurity is better than open, transparent, robust, resilient systems. This is a misconception that has been widely debunked, but which has been arrogantly disregarded by those in charge. If you've ever tried to reason with a drunk, then you'll understand why explanations seem to fail. These so-called leaders, who have consistently lied about just about everything over the past 6-7 years, appear to be drunk on power. Rational thought does not apply. Anyway, enough ranting... call or write your Representatives and Senators today!
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/03/09/security.letters/index.html
