Ashcroft Proposes Surveillence Expansion

Just in from The Register: a recently uncovered bill proposal drafted by the Justice Department proposes to vastly expand the government's surveillence and data-collection capabilities. Such expansions include:

Eliminating the need for an issuing subpoena or warrent to access a suspects credit report.

Criminalizing the use of cryptography to conceal any "incriminating communication".

Granting authority to law enforcement to monitor a suspects voice and web based communications over their cell-phone.

Those are the "highlights". Check out the full story here

George Orwell would have fun with the situation in the U.S. as it sit's now.
I have watched my rights slowly evaporate over the past twenty years, when I think back to some of the things I did in high school, I get very upset.
I used to leave my shotgun in the trunk of my car so I could hunt rabbits after school with out the twenty mile one way drive from school to home and then ten miles or so to the property ( which, by the way was four miles from school)
Now, This could get me several years in jail
My boys enjoy spending time in the field, but first I have to open a three thousand dollar safe(IF someone steals your gun and commits a crime YOU are legaly liable) get there scater gun out, then drive them to the property ---In my county if a minor ( under 18)is caught with a firearm the parents go to jail.
Now I know hunting is not politicly correct these days But come on this is farm country the schools close for the opening day of deer season!!

Sorry for the rant but I am getting tired of watching my country turn into a police state, I am using a school computer for this because I use windows and don't want the thougt police to be able to confiscate my harddrive and put me in jail for looking at a site that may or may not link to something deemed illeagal
Just my 2cents

Hey......come to Greece :D Life is good here.

Ya I hear Greece is very nice. Some of my relatives live there. But not to get off subject I am starting to get very worried about the recent elevation in government involvment in the private affairs of its citizens. I have a feeling the worst isnt over quite yet.

I've said for thirty years that Orwell was right, only off by a few years. Now, it's beginning to seem that it's happening. Homeland Security is, in my very humble opinion, just a way for Government to take over everything. How much "Homeland Security" are we focusing on our borders? Who knows WHO is crossing into this country almost at will?

They're taking our rights away by the bushelful and nobody seems to care. Those old enough to remember, think back to the 1950's and even 60's and compare America then with America now. It's scary, and it's getting worse.

I can’t help but laugh when I see the irony of the situation. This site is all about good administration to defeat hackers. As every admin knows, most often the week links in the system lie with the users. So what do you do? You give the users the most restrictive rights and permissions you can to try to limit the damage that they can cause the system.

That’s just what the US is doing now.

The problem is that we are real people, living in a real world. We are not just some users in some system. That is what has made America great, Liberty and Freedom for all. But now, sadly, some see the system as being more important.

And that I think is the real danger. The system is growing stronger than the users.

I am not an anarchist, mind you. I love America, and all it stands for. I just see the need for a balance. This American system or government is supposed to help the people, not restrict the people. The American I think should come first, not the system.

And that is quite ironic as I see it.

One of my former college instructors, myself and some other vets got into an argument once about whether or not the US was a democracy or a socialistic republic with capitalist ideals. The argument lasted most of the semester with someone bringing in or e-mailing articles back and forth.

From the orginal post - it looks like the instructor will eventually win.

Didn't "Animal Farm" from Orwell state "All pigs are created equally -- just some more than others." ?

Man. Oh man. Where's Hulk Hogan when you need him?