BUSHWHACKING PRIVACY

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The administration has delayed privacy-oversight efforts until Bush's pet projects are in place. By then, any oversight will be beside the point.

By David S. Bernstein Art by Joe Bluhm Friday, June 17, 2005

http://www.freetimes.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2552

OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS, the U.S. government plans to roll out a series of initiatives to enhance the nation's security, each carrying the potential to strip away more and more of your privacy in the name of protecting your liberty.

In theory, all these projects should have been planned, designed, and launched with input from the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which was created last year by near-unanimous congressional assent at the urging of the 9/11 Commission, to protect against overly intrusive security practices in all federal agencies.

In reality, however, the Bush administration has delayed staffing and funding the interagency privacy board while its pet projects have moved to fruition, including the following:...