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Why Carnivore/DCS1000 Is Bad For You
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There are a large number of problems with the FBI's use of a system like
Carnivore/DCS1000, and some Americans may agree or disagree on any number of different
points about it. But Carnivore/DCS1000 is so offensive to the American
Way that there are a few things about it which just about every American should
agree are unacceptable. Here are some reasons why Carnivore/DCS1000
is bad for America, and, more specifically, bad for you:
- It's
Unconstitutional: The Constitution is largely a document of limits-
limits on the ways in which Government may interfere with our lives. The
Bill of Rights (the first ten Amendments to the Constitution) is a short
list of specific aspects of our lives which Government may not interfere.
The 4th Amendment clearly prohibits such sweeping invasions of privacy and
property as Carnivore/DCS1000 commits. (read
more...)
- It Threatens Freedom
and The Internet: The best thing about the Internet, the thing which
has allowed it to prosper as much as it has, is lack of centralized control.
An while there are those who would use this lack of control to their
criminal advantage, it would be a far worse consequence to give up the
"chaos" in favor of stringent control.
All of the wondrous possibilities that the Internet offers us come at the
price of it having no central control or governing body. To impose that type
of control will be at the expense of the freedoms which have made the
Internet what it is today. For 30 years, Government control stifled and
suppressed the growth of the Internet. We must not allow such a fate to be
reinstated. (read more...)
- It Sets a Bad Precedent:
What if the FBI said they wanted to monitor all telephone calls, for
information about suspected criminals? What if they wanted to intercept all
postal mail, to check and see if any of it was related to any of their
suspects? What if they wanted to do a "profile" of the average
marijuana user, by scanning huge amounts of electronic data, and compiling
the marijuana-related communications? What if they wanted keys to everyone's
houses, in case they had to get inside to investigate a crime?
Use of the Carnivore/DCS1000 system plants the seeds for all of those types of
developments, and many more frightening ones. (read
more...)
- It
Will Harm Innocent People: The FBI can hardly be trusted to conduct
their investigations with proper handling and precision, but even if they
could, Carnivore/DCS1000 will end up hurting innocent people. The amount of
guesswork involved in a sweeping search like the type Carnivore/DCS1000 does insures
that many "dead ends" and "bad leads" will be pursued.
What this means is that the FBI will inevitably end up investigating
(including search, seizure, intimidation, prosecution, etc.) innocent
people. The use of a mass-level tool like Carnivore/DCS1000 simply insures that
these will occur more frequently, and at a more widespread level. (read
more...)
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