Civil Rights: Big Brother Is Watching You

Jack Cafferty sometimes annoys me no end. And then, at other times, he just wham! hits the issue of the day right on the button.

Today is an "on-the-button" day, don't you think? Check it out: Jack Cafferty wants to know if you trust government to guard the people's privacy. Well, don't you?

What's this all about, you ask? Well, see, about a month ago, one Donald Kerr, Principal Deputy Directory of National Intelligence, told us that the Fourth Amendment was deader than a pirate's wooden leg, and we, the people, need "a new definition of privacy."

"We need to move beyond the construct that equates anonymity with privacy and focus more on how we can protect essential privacy in this interconnected environment.... I think all of us have to really take stock of what we already are willing to give up, in terms of anonymity, but what safeguards we want in place to be sure that giving that up doesn't empty our bank account or do something equally bad elsewhere."

According to Kerr, privacy should mean only that government and business are safeguarding people's sensitive information, rather than relying on anonymity.

You trust government and business to protect your privacy, don't you? After all, what you're really looking for - what you need - is privacy from other ordinary citizens like yourself. You don't need privacy from the government, or from big business. You can trust them.

Why does this remind me of those infamous words, "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help you"? The same government and big business buttwads who routinely lose our records in various ways now want us to trust them to maintain our privacy and ensure that we are not subject to the kind of identity theft that would empty our bank accounts and steal our house and home from right under us.

I don't think so.

Stumble It!