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Watch Thy Neighbor as Thyself
Posted by Robert Heverly on Thursday, July 18 @ 17:28:44 EDT Privacy

"A National System for Concerned Workers to Report Suspicious Activity"

That's the quotation across the top of the Terrorism Information and Prevention System (Operation TIPS) Home Page. The idea is simple enough: people who as part of their jobs have access to public places on a regular basis (postal workers, electric and gas meter readers, cable installers, appliance repair people--you get the idea) are provided with a central location to report "suspicious activity." The reports are to be centralized, entered into a database, and reported out to appropriate regional officials. According to the TIPS Web page, the citizens are to report suspicious behavior in public places. Of course, nothing precludes reporting of information on what is seen in private homes, though the government steadfastly denies this is its purpose.



There are some really interesting aspects to this. For one, information on it is found on the U.S. Government's Citizen Corps initiative Web site, not within the U.S. Department of Justice Web site. Citizen Corps fits within the the Bush "U.S. Freedom Corps" initiative, which centralizes many citizen volunteer initiatives (including, bizarrely enough, the Peace Corps). But it's clearly the DOJ's baby, as seen in Barbara Comstock's defense of the proposal today (she is the Director of Public Affairs for DOJ). According to Comstock (whose press release was a response to the public bashing the initiative has taken in recent days):

"[B]ased upon successful existing non-governmental programs like Highway Watch, River Watch and Coast Watch, which enable American workers to report unusual and non-emergency issues that they observe in the normal course of their work."

After the U.S. Postal Service said it won't participate as an organization (the TIPS Web page specifically seeks organizational support and promises support of organizations that participate), the NY Times (free reg. req'd) quoted Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge as saying: "There's a big difference being vigilant and being a vigilante. We just want people to use their common sense . . . It is not a government intrusion. The president just wants people to be alert and aware. ... We're not asking for people to spy on people.''

To their credit (I'm giving the administration credit for either knowing the limits of what even Americans can take at this time or for political savvy in knowing what Americans can be forced to endure in these troubling times), the TIPS Web page calls for only reports on "potentially unusual or suspicious activity in public places." Although, in being careful to emphasize "public," they've used the rather amorphous "potentially unusual" . . . I'm not quite sure what that means, but couple it with a centralized database and reporting out to regional officials, and I'm still worried. But the emphasis on public should reassure all of us who have meter readers, cable installers, or perhaps even more troubling, social services or child welfare officials, visit their homes. What about people who deliver meals on wheels, or who provide counseling to victims of domestic abuse?

The ACLU, obviously, has been having a fit. The story has been widely but quietly reported in the press, beginning it seems with a Washington Post editorial on July 14. Other US press has mentioned it (such as ZDNet, the National Review and the Washington Times), though it doesn't seem to be a big story anywhere other than the ACLU. International press is also engaged, to a certain degree, with stories in appearing in England on the BBC, in Scotland, in Australia, and in Singapore. The Jeff Rense Program has the most complete links on the issue (I've borrowed some of Jeff's links, thanks Jeff!), but I haven't seen a lot of buzz about this on the blog circuit (maybe I've missed it? Wouldn't be the first time). Worldnet ran a poll with responses indicating (as of this writing) that many people believe this is a "big step toward a police state," and "The New Enlightment" (an online journal of sorts) adds it's own comedic critique.

This step, formalizing a program designed to solicit citizens reporting on other citizens, should bring back bad memories for human beings. We've done it before; it was part and parcel of the Nazi regime; it was certainly a part of communist East Germany and of the Soviet Union. Think back to the McCarthy era in the U.S.: "Tell on your neighbors and your colleagues. If you don't, we might think you've done something bad. Give us a few names, come on, it's fun, and it's patriotic." There are of course the traditional (and well represented by the ACLU) concerns about privacy, warehousing of information, unauthorized or leaked access to that information. All of these are valid. And of course, the courts have never been the big saviors of freedom when times are tight. We need to put light on this initiative and hopefully help the administration to see the error of its ways.

But let's not lose sight of something else: who more often has other people in their homes, the rich, or the poor? The poor, of course, who might have social service agencies visiting, or child welfare people visiting (also called in by reports to centralized reporting systems), telephone companies, electric utilities, gas utilities, repair persons, landlord's maintenance staff, all going in and out on a regular basis. These intrusions are not required by (nor put up with by) the more settled, less dependent-on-other, privileged people in our society. The poor, who often move more and move to less secure locations, would be the primary objects of this "1984" style watching.

Of course, there is a difference as well between this and past "reporting" initiatives. Those intiatives focused on a place (such as a highway or a river), not a group of workers. The workers the government is seeking help from here, or at least some of them, have access to private homes. It is not a distinction without a difference. When you call upon patriotism, and you ask people to report to an official government repository suspicious activity, they will do so, whether it is in public or not. Establish a phone line to take reports of different (because isn't that really what "suspicious activity is?) activities in harbors? Okay. On roads? Okay. Establish a phone line to take reports of different activities no matter where you come across them? Not so good . . .

All in all, this is a giant step back in time, a step away from a truly open society to a society where information is gathered by the governed and turned over to the governing, for the purpose of casting shadows and doubts on individuals. As the DOJ emphasized in its recent statements, the program is not yet fully formed. Hopefully, it never will be.

 
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· U.S. Freedom Corps
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· ZDNet
· BBC
· Scotland
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· Jeff Rense Program
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