Privacy on Life Support

Before his forced resignation, President Richard Nixon declared, "When the president does it, that means it is not illegal." Our current chief executive, however, speaking this year at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, said of our terrorist enemies: "They may seek to exploit our freedoms, but we will not sacrifice the liberties we cherish or hunker down behind walls of suspicion and distrust."

By contrast, on Sept. 27, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Charlie Savage, the press' Paul Revere guardian of those cherished liberties, broke a story in the New York Times that next year President Obama will send Congress "sweeping new regulations for the Internet, arguing that their ability to wiretap criminal and terrorism suspects is 'going dark' as people increasingly communicate online instead of by telephone."

And this is how our individual privacy, already on life support, is going to be further violated, not only on the Internet, as former constitutional lawyer Glenn Greenwald reports (Salon.com, Sept. 27), relying on Savage's disclosure:

Commander Obama "would require all communications, including ones over the Internet, to be built so as to enable the U.S. government to intercept and monitor them at any time when the law permits."

More here:

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=211885

Keep in mind that "Hentoff's views on journalistic responsibility and the rights of Americans to write, think and speak freely are expressed in his weekly column, and he has come to be acknowledged as a foremost authority in the area of First Amendment defense. He is also an expert on the Bill of Rights, the Supreme Court, student rights and education.:

If you google his biography, it is very, very impressive.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/opinions/hentoff.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_Hentoff

If you want to read more of his columns, you can read them on the following:

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/collection.aspx?item=nat_hentoff_commentaries

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/hentoff1.asp