A while
back, we noted a report showing that the “sneak-and-peek”
provision of the Patriot Act that was alleged to be used only in
national security and terrorism investigations has overwhelmingly
been used in narcotics cases. Now the New York Times reports that
National Security Agency data will be shared with other intelligence
agencies like the FBI without first applying any screens for privacy.
[...]
On the one
hand, I guess it’s better that this new data-sharing policy is
acknowledged in the open instead of carried out surreptitiously. On
the other hand, there’s something even more ominous about the fact
that they no longer feel as though they need to hide it.
It’s all
another sobering reminder that any powers we grant to the federal
government for the purpose of national security will inevitably be
used just about everywhere else. And extraordinary powers we grant
government in wartime rarely go away once the war is over. And, of
course, the nifty thing for government agencies about a “war on
terrorism” is that it’s a war that will never formally end.
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