Fourth Amendment repealed

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was repealed this month, and no one seemed to notice. By an aggregate vote of 363 yea, 156 nay, and 16 no vote, Congress passed HR6304, “A bill to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to establish a procedure for authorizing certain acquisitions of foreign intelligence, and for other purposes,” and sent it to President Bush, who signed it into law July 10.
When the Constitution was set before the people of the new United States, and the states asked to ratify it, they were collectively disappointed that it did not provide sufficient protection against possible excesses of the federal government. Having recently thrown off the yoke of a King, they were understandably suspicious of too much power vested in a central government.
On Dec. 15, 1791, the first 10 amendments finally were ratified, guaranteeing:
1. The rights of free speech and free press and of the people to gather and petition their government for change;
2. The right to maintain a militia and bear arms; to be protected from unreasonable search and seizure and
3. Protection against the government forcing a homeowner to quarter soldiers during peacetime;
4. Protection against search and seizure without a warrant specifying the place to be searched and the person or things being sought;
5. Protection against being tried twice for the same crime, against being required to testify against one’s self, and against government taking of private property without just compensation;
6. The right to a speedy and public trial, by jury, to know the crimes being charged and the who is making the accusation, and to have an attorney to help defend against the accusations;
7. The right of trial by jury in civil suits where the money being sought exceeds 20 dollars;
8. Protection against excessive bail;
9. That other rights could not be denied simply because they were not specifically mentioned in the Constitution; and
10. Rights not specifically granted by the constitution to the federal government would remain with the individual states.
To amend the constitution requires approval of Congress, and then approval of two-thirds of the states. But there is another way, and Congress has found it. They passed a law making it illegal to prosecute anyone who violates the constitution.
By prohibiting prosecution of the telecommunication companies for helping the government illegally perform warrantless searches, Congress repealed of the Fourth Amendment. Oh, it’s still on the books, but it’s meaningless.
Among the bill’s supporters were Senators Arlen Specter, Robert Casey, and Barack Obama and John McCain. McCain didn’t actually vote, but if you don’t vote, you’ve helped the winning side of the question.
Citizen outcry has been, well, lacking.
There are those who will claim the warrantless searches do not apply to much of what we normally deem private. After all, telephone companies do not carry our mail.
But increasing percentages of out our communication is by text message, email and instant messaging. In recent years, government prosecutors have obtained information from internet service providers that users thought was private.
Those early, post Revolutionary, lawmakers wanted to protect because they were familiar with their citizens being imprisoned with no trial, not charges, no attorney. The Framers just hadn’t learned to spell Guantanamo.
Every piece of email is stored somewhere, and just because we delete it doesn’t mean it’s gone: Hotmail, Gmail and MySpace users take note.
If you happen to mention “Mahmoud” and “wedding” in the same email, the next sound you hear could be the boys in the Black Suburbans knocking on your door.

©2008 by T. Samuel Emery

Changing face of the information control

Here’s an interesting thought: Apple has come out with a device that plays music, videos, and radio and TV shows, and makes telephone calls. It also will run a plethora of software. We know that because Apple says it’s true. The company says an upgrade to the operating system will allow all those hinted-at applications to run.

But Apple gets to decide what software will run, and when it will run, by mandating that all software must be obtained from the iTunes store and installed from the iTunes application. Presumedly, Apple could, if it later decided, turn off any software that once worked simply because, oh, say it allowed users to buy music, videos, or podcasts from Not-Apple.

One might point to hackers who already have figured out ways to run software on an iPhone, but how long will it be until Apple decides to shut down iPhones that do not operate approved software through the approved iTunes interface. It’s in the agreement with AT&T that Apple maintains control — AT&T merely sells the units and provides over-the-air service

With that much control, Steve Jobs can decide what information will be allowed to appear on the iPhone. Maybe it will come from only Google, or only Yahoo, or only some as yet unknown AppleSearch that will decide not do display certain search results. (Don’t laugh; companies already pay to be at the top of the list; eliminating “objectionable” content altogether would be easy.)

To use the device at all, the buyer already has to activate a two-year contract, at an exhorbitant price that includes charges for “features” many users may not ever use, often do not want, and at any rate may not have available where they hang out. One may not purchase an iPhone and opt out of the Wi-Fi or email, for instance, by not subscribing to the mandatory $30-a-month data package.

And yet people seem focused on complaining about the price as they stand in line to acquire the latest state-of-the art gadget, while the once dying Apple computer brand moves toward total control of what it hopes will be the new Microsoft-model of control by becoming the de facto standard.

But Microsoft has controlled only the tools by which we manipulate information. Apple is well on its way to controlling access to the information.

And that is, or should be, more worrisome than the size of the monthly bill.