Uncle Sam Watching Everyone Now

The upshot was that, despite early and constant agitation by activists about the PATRIOT Act and its successors, a notable majority of the public has favored these measures (polls in 2005 and early 2006 usually showed 50-60% in support of the Patriot Act and 30-40% against – see http://www.pollingreport.com/terror2.htm). Although the primary rationale was always that these measures were supposedly necessary for fighting terrorism, it was difficult to avoid the suspicion that the real reason was that normal “middle Americans” did not believe these measures applied to them. In a so-called “war” notable for the lack of any calls to sacrifice by the leadership and any desire for sacrifice by the public, it was hard to believe that a majority would support real invasions of their privacy in order to “fight terrorism.” Those suspicions have been corroborated. These latest measures affect everyone. The Rocky-Mountain-based Qwest did not turn over its records to the NSA, citing legal concerns, so if you use Qwest and only call people who use Qwest and they only call people who use Qwest and so on, you’re fine. For the rest of us, the vast majority, the government now has access to a huge array of extremely intimate information about us. Full article: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0516-22.htm

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