Homeland bill
would ease laws
guarding privacy
James Kuhnhenn
and Drew Brown
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
WASHINGTON — Nothing more
starkly illustrates the federal gov
ernment’s post-Sept. 11 desire to
learn more about its citizens and
to divulge less about itself than the
new homeland security legislation.
Approved by the Senate this
week and destined for President
Bush’s signature, the bill would
make it easier for government
agencies to gather information
about individuals and groups, in
cluding their e-mail, the phone
calls they place and the Web sites
they view.
At the same time, it would make
it harder for people to obtain infor
mation about their government
and would permit greater secrecy
by government advisory groups.
Advocates say the new procedures
are essential to fight terrorism, and
they maintain that safeguards are in
place to avoid abuses. Critics, both
liberal and conservative, see an au
thoritarian world where maintaining
security justifies snooping into citi
zens’ lives.
Adding to their fears is a Penta
gon project — unrelated to the
homeland security bill — to mine
vast amounts of data, including
credit card receipts, in search of
patterns that may point to terror
ist behavior.
As described by Defense Under
secretary Edward “Pete” Aldridge,
the Coital'Information Awareness
program aims to find “connec
tions between transactions —
such as passports, visas, work per
mits, driver’s licenses, credit
cards, airline tickets, rental cars,
gun purchases, chemical purchas
es — and events such as arrests or
suspicious activities.”
Pentagon officials defended the
$10 million data-mining experi
ment this week, saying it could
give law enforcement and intelli
gence agencies a powerful new tool
to prevent terrorism.
What Defense’s data-mining ef
fort discovers could help the new
Homeland Security Department.
Legislation creating the depart
ment authorizes a new Directorate
for Information Analysis and Infra
structure Protection to collect and
integrate information from govern
ment and private-sector entities
and to “establish and utilize ...
data-mining and other advanced
analytical tools.”
The homeland security bill also
makes it easier for government agen
cies to tap Internet communications
and to require Internet service pro
vides to turn over the contents of
their customers’ communications.
The bill broadens provisions in
last year’s USA PATRIOT Act by
permitting e-mail and other elec
tronic communications to be di
vulged to any government agency,
including schools. Agencies would
have to show “good faith” that the
information is needed. That’s well
short of the previous requirement
of a “reasonable belief” that a crime
was about to occur. Under current
law, authorities also must show that
they are trying to thwart an “imme
diate danger.”
The new bill simply sets the
standard at “danger.”
“We do not want the federal gov
ernment to become the proverbial
‘big brother’ while every local po
lice and sheriffs office or foreign
law-enforcement agency ... be
come ‘little brothers,”’ Sen.
Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., argued on
the Senate floor this week.
Even as the government seeks
more information from citizens, it is
trying to block the release of govern
ment information to the public.
The homeland security bill
would limit information about pos
sible security weaknesses that citi
zens can request under the Free
dom of Information Act. It would
set criminal penalties for govern
ment employees who release such
protected information. The new se
crecy would override state “sun
shine” laws and, critics charge,
could be used to hide whatever au
thorities deem security-related.
Business groups had lobbied for
such protections, arguing that their
corporate secrets or security weak
nesses otherwise could be divulged
publicly or to terrorists.
“All of this is just overwhelming,”
said Gary Bass of OMB Watch, an
independent group that monitors
government secrecy. “On the one
hand they’re preaching enormous
secrecy and permitting corpora
tions to have a lock box on secrecy
and immunity, on the other hand
you have this enormous invasion on
personal privacy.”
Some lawmakers defended the
protections, saying they’re crucial if
corporations, particularly high
technology industries, are to share
information with the government.
“This (Freedom of Information
Act) exemption will encourage the
private companies that operate over
85 percent of our critical infrastruc
ture to share information about
computer break-ins with law en
forcement, so criminals and terror
ists can be stopped before they
strike again and severely punished,”
said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
© 2002, Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
ARE YOUR WEEKENDS
MISSING SOMETHING?
+ +
+ +
Join us on Sundays for worship services featuring
Holy Communion. We have traditional services on
Sunday mornings and Marty Haugen services on
Sunday evenings.
Sundays 8:15 and 10:45 am & 6:30 pm
Student/Young Adult Bible Study, Sundays, 7:15 pm
Central Lutheran Church
Corner of 18th & Potter • 345.0395
www.welcometocentral.org
All are welcome.
please recycle this paper!
Nation & world briefing
^-poppiV—
"The Land East"
Traditional
Greek & Indian Food
c^>
Lunch
Monday through Saturday
Dinner
7 Nights a Week
992 Willamette
Eugene, Or 97401
343-9661
015337
Looking for ways to pay for school?
Want a scholarship but don't know where to look?
Feeling a little lost?
Get help! Come to a scholarship
search workshop.
Monday, November 18 or
Monday, November 25
Between 1 and 3pm
Klamath Hall Basement,
Room B13
Sponsored by the
University of Oregon
Office of Student Financial
Aid & Scholarships
260 Oregon Hall • 346-3221 • financialaid.uoregon.edu
015320
Take Ben Sherman home for the holidays!
Do your holiday shopping at A Bizzillion where we have a great selection of:
■ Ben Sherman for men and women
■ Three Dots for men and women
■ Custo Barcelona for men and women
■ Marithe Francois Girbaud
901 Peart Street Eugene
(on the ground floor of the historic Eugene Hotel)
Telephone: 541-485-1570
Tuesday-Friday 10:30-5:30 Saturday 11-4
UNIVERSITY
OF OREGON
CULTURAL
FORUM
PRESENTS
'FRIDAY
NOV.422\
!hultIcenter ^
S/LVAXCONCERT HALE
SHOW BEGINS AT} 8:OOPM
M QUESTION AND ANSWER
1 WITH MSJfCHO]FOLLOWS;
FOR TICKETS CALL OR VISIT THE HOLT CENTER (M2-IMOO) OR THF MHO
OFFtCF (340-4303).