What’s Going On: A Snooping Scapegoat … and Ned Lamont
19 May 2006 5:24 pm by Taylor Marsh
What's Going On: A Snooping Scapegoat … and Ned Lamont
UPDATE (5.21.06): Good news: Lieberman's in Trouble
Raise Money for Ned
Help Ned
Beat Joe
Raise Money for Ned
BEAT JOE – $$$ for NED!
UPDATE III: Editor and Publisher has weighed in on Snoopgate.
UDPATE II: Ned “wrecked” Joe!
UPDATE: Ned is on the ballot!
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| Bad night for Joe. |
First things first… If you're not reading and checking in periodically with
Matt Stoller's live blogging, you're really missing
the action today in Connecticut. It's a real Democratic, not to mention democratic,
battle between the Lieberman and the hero Ned
Lamont. Make sure you're reading Matt, while also stopping over to see what
Jane's got going on. Because, let's
face it, without Jane's work Lamont wouldn't be where he is today. Where is
he exactly? Putting a lot of heat on Joe Lieberman and letting the power elite
know that progressives are willing to take big risks and lay it on the line
to hold them accountable. Go Ned! Watch it here
and stay tuned to Matt's coverage.
On another front, via
Justin Rood, there's an interesting new twist in the illegal wiretap story.
Ever heard of a company called NeuStar?
Well, get acquainted, because it looks like they play a pretty big role in the
whole snagging our telephone calls saga. But get this, they actually refer to their
own company as “scapegoats.”
Sounds like NeuStar is willing to take the heat for the big telcos that are
handing over phone data. Maybe that's why BellSouth is asking for a retraction.
The Departments of Justice, State, and Homeland Security spend millions annually
to buy commercial databases that track Americans' finances, phone numbers,
and biographical information, according to a report last month by the U.S.
Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress. Often,
the agencies and their contractors don't ensure the data's accuracy, the GAO
found.Buying commercially collected data allows the government to dodge certain
privacy rules. The Privacy Act of 1974 restricts how federal agencies may
use such information and requires disclosure of what the government is doing
with it. But the law applies only when the government is doing the data collecting.“Grabbing data wholesale from the private sector is the way agencies
are getting around the requirements of the Privacy Act and the Fourth Amendment,”
says Jim Harper, director of information policy studies at the libertarian
Cato Institute in Washington and a member of the Homeland Security Dept.'s
Data Privacy & Integrity Advisory Committee.The
Snooping Goes Beyond Phone Calls
How the government sidesteps the Privacy Act by purchasing commercial data
