The government collects vast troves of data - ON YOU AND ME

laura donohue spells it out in the la times...

• tax, education, vehicle, criminal and welfare records

• travel, medical and insurance records — and DNA tests

• credit card records, bank account numbers and information on Internet use

• which charities or political causes you support

• where you shop, and your supermarket frequent-buyer-card records may indicate whether you keep kosher or follow an Islamic halal diet

• what, exactly, you read

• in the 12 months following 9/11, federal agents made at least 545 visits to libraries to obtain information about patrons

• The FBI has used Patriot Act powers to break into a judge's chambers and to procure records from medical clinics

• The Patriot Act allows law enforcement officers to get "sneak and peek" warrants to search a home for any suspected crime — and to wait months or even years to tell the owner they were there

she suggests some important questions that deserve answers...

First, what information, exactly, is being collected? Are other programs besides the president's NSA initiative ignoring traditional warrant requirements? Are federal agencies dodging weak privacy laws by outsourcing the job to private contractors?

Second, who has access to the data once it is collected, and what legal restrictions are set on how it can be used or shared?

Third, who authorized data mining, and is its use restricted to identifying terrorists?

Fourth, what is the collective effect of these programs on citizens' rights? Privacy certainly suffers, but as individuals begin to feel inhibited in what they say and do, free speech and freedom of assembly also erode.

Fifth, how do these data collection and mining operations deal with error? As anyone who's tried to dispute an erroneous credit report can attest, once computer networks exchange data, it may be difficult to verify its accuracy or where it entered the system. Citizens who do not know they are under surveillance cannot challenge inaccurate information that may become part of their secret digital dossier.

What will Congress do to ensure that the innocent remain so?

tell me, do you think, in the upcoming congressional investigation, a) are they going to ask these questions, b) if they do ask them, will they get any answers, and c) will it make any difference either way...? my guess...? a) maybe, b) no and c) no...

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