Date: Sun, 9 Apr 2000 16:08:45 -0400 From: freematt@coil.com (Matthew Gaylor) Subject: The FBI Admits Wanting to be Big Brother To: freematt@coil.com (Matthew Gaylor)

From Wired News, available online at: http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,35519,00.html

Computers, Freedom and Privacy by Declan McCullagh

3:00 a.m. Apr. 8, 2000 PDT TORONTO -- Give Steve Talbott a microphone and an hour to speak at a conference and what do you get?

Answer: A long-winded rant against technology.

Se also: Big Brother Is the Network See also: Getting Snooped On? Too Bad Everybody's got issues in Politics

"Every technology improvement that promises to make it better will more likely make (life) worse," said Talbott, editor of the Netfuture newsletter, during his luncheon address at the Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference Wednesday.

The claim drew fire from other conference-goers. Author Simson Garfinkel pointed out that antibiotics and sterilization of medical instruments had generally positive effects.

According to Talbott, engineers should take into account the likely future effects of their creations, not just the short-term ones.

Talbott didn't appear to like telephones much either.

"What bothered me was the disruption in the usual potential of human exchange," he said.

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Hitler fan: Ernst Zundel isn't a neo-Nazi, not exactly. He's too old to be a skinhead, and too young to have served in World War II. But the German citizen and Canadian resident sure is a fan of Adolf Hitler, and he came to theCFP conference to drum up support for his ongoing legal fight against the Canadian government, which doesn't seem to like his anti-Holocaust claims.

It didn't work. Conference-goers steered clear of him, but that didn't daunt Zundel, who said he's used to oppression. Nizkor, a site dedicated to Holocaust remembrance, calls Zundel "pro-censorship" when it suits him.

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Big Brother could be watching: It's not every day that the FBI admits it could be exactly what George Orwell predicted in 1984.

"If there's going to be a Big Brother in the United States, it's going to be us. It's going to be the FBI," the agency's Paul George said Wednesday.

George said, of course, that such a possibility is exactly why there are stringent privacy laws limiting what the FBI can and can't do.

Still, he said, law enforcement needs to be able to conduct reasonable surveillance.

"There are worse things in your life than not having an absolute right to privacy. You can be murdered. You can be raped," he said.

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Privacy revisited: Here's some good privacy news for a change: Americans are letting the government know what they think.

When the Clinton administration announced proposed regulations to protect medical records and information last year, some 60,000 people wrote in, some submitting letters more than 100 pages long, said Peter Swire, chief privacy counselor for the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

The proposed regulations cover providers, clearinghouses, and health plans, but don't cover researchers, law enforcement, public health, or the press.

Swire on Friday said the president is committed to getting privacy rules finalized this year, which ultimately would give rise to an entire cadre of data-protection professionals. He also said there was reason to be optimistic, because as new information systems continue to be built around the world, they can be created with privacy in mind.