Jun. 21, 2006 - 20:47 MDT

BIG SMOTHER

Things that aren't right for us commoners seem to be permissible to the biggies, at least that is the way it seems to me. An article in today's Rocky Mountain News by Ted Bridis and John Soloman of the Associated Press lets us in on a supposed secret. Quoted here in full:

LAWMEN RELYING ON DATA BROKERS

But private vendors may use tactics that go outside the law, documents show

WASHINGTON -- Federal and local police across the country have been gathering Americans' phone records from private data brokers without subpoena or warrants."

"These brokers, many of whom market aggressively on the Internet, have broken into customer accounts online, tricked phone companies into revealing information and sometimes acknowledged that their practices violate laws, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press."

"Legal experts and privacy advocates said police reliance on private vendors who commit such acts raises civil-liberties questions."

"Those using data brokers include agencies of the Homeland Security and Justice departments -- including the FBI and U.S. Marshal Service -- and municipal police departments in California, Florida, Georgia and Utah. Experts think hundreds of other departments frequently use such services."

"We are requesting any and all information you have regarding the above cell-phone account and the account holder . . . . including account activity and the account holder's address," Ana Bueno, a police investigator in Redwood City, Calif., wrote in October to PDJ Investigations of Granbury, Texas."

"An agent in Denver for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Anna Wells , sent a similar request on March 31, on Homeland Security stationery: "I am looking for all available subscriber information for the followilng phone number." Wells wrote to a corporate alias used by PDJ."

"Congressional investigators estimated that the U.S. government spent $30 million last year buying personal data from private brokers. That number likely understates the breadth of transactions, since brokers said they rarely charge law-enforcement agencies."

"A lawmaker who has investigated the industry said Monday that he was concerned about data brokers."

"There is a good chance there are some laws being broken, but it's not really clear precisely which laws," said Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., head of the House Energy and Com;merce investigations subcommittee, which plans to begin hearings today."

"Documents gathered by Whitfield's committee show data brokers use trickery, impersonation and even technology to try to gather America's phone records."

"They can basically obtain any information about anybody on any subject," Whitfield said."

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It seems that in the near future every breath an American citizen takes will be a matter of record, along with his heart rate and what he said on the phone to who in what order, available to any remote arm of the government or business but not to the individual himself. The nosy intrusiveness of government has increased logarithmically since 9/11 and paranoid fear has been the main lever to gain information that should be of no ones interest.

Maybe now the title of Justice and other arms of government, civil and governmental should be BIG SMOTHER . . . . . . . . . .

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