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by Richard Stallman
The worst damage from many nerve injuries
is secondary -- it happens in the hours after the initial
trauma, as the body's reaction to the damage kills more
nerve cells. Researchers are beginning to discover ways
to prevent this secondary damage and reduce the eventual
harm.
If we are not careful, the deadly attacks
on New York and Washington will lead to far worse secondary
damage, if the U.S. Congress adopts "preventive measures"
that take away the freedom that America stands for.
I'm not talking about searches at airports
here. Searches of people or baggage for weapons, as long
as they check only for weapons and keep no records about
you if you have no weapons, are just an inconvenience;
they do not endanger civil liberties. What I am worried
about is massive surveillance of all aspects of life:
of our phone calls, of our email, and of our physical
movements.
These measures are likely to be recommended
regardless of whether they would be effective for their
stated purpose. An executive of a company developing face
recognition software is said to be telling reporters that
widespread deployment of face-recognizing computerized
cameras would have prevented the attacks. The September
15 New York Times cites a congressman who is advocating
this "solution." Given that the human face recognition
performed by the check-in agents did not keep the hijackers
out, there is no reason to think that computer face recognition
would help. But that won't stop the agencies that have
always wanted to do more surveillance from pushing this
plan now, and many other plans like it. To stop them will
require public opposition.
Even more ominously, a proposal to
require government back doors in encryption software has
already appeared.
Meanwhile, Congress hurried to pass
a resolution giving Bush unlimited power to use military
force in retaliation for the attacks. Retaliation may
be justified, if the perpetrators can be identified and
carefully targeted, but Congress has a duty to scrutinize
specific measures as they are proposed. Handing the president
carte blanche in a moment of anger is exactly the mistake
that led the United States into the Vietnam War.
Please let your elected representatives,
and your unelected president, know that you don't want
your civil liberties to become the terrorists' next victim.
Don't wait -- the bills are already being written.
Copyright 2001 Richard Stallman
Verbatim copying and distribution of
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the copyright notice and this notice are preserved.
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