In a full-page ad set to debut later this month in issues of The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine, the ACLU warns that government e-surveillance programs like "Carnivore" and "Echelon" are encroaching on Fourth Amendment protections against "unwarranted government surveillance."
ACLU Associate Director Barry Steinhardt said Tuesday that he hopes the ads will re-spark the national debate over government surveillance efforts, prompting Congress, in turn, to move the issue to the top of its agenda.
"We are clearly trying to raise public awareness about the extent of the government's capacity for (electronic) eavesdropping," Steinhardt told Newsbytes Tuesday. "We're trying to focus the attention of the (Bush) administration and the Republican leadership."
Steinhardt said that Republican leaders in Congress set the right tone last year by scrutinizing government cyber-snooping efforts. With the new Congress and administration settling in, now is a good time to revisit those issues, Steinhardt said.
House Majority Leader Dick Armey agrees with the concerns raised by the ACLU, Armey aide Richard Diamond said yesterday. "I think this is a good time to focus on government privacy abuses," Diamond said, adding that the Majority Leader looks forward to those issues being taken up sometime during this Congress.
Specifically, the ACLU wants Congress and the Justice Department to turn up the heat on the FBI for its use of the controversial email surveillance device, "Carnivore."
While Carnivore came under heavy fire from lawmakers and civil liberties advocates last year, the debate over the device has been somewhat muted through the first few months of 2001.
The ACLU advertisement bears a picture of a wireless phone under the legend "Now Equipped With 3-Way Calling. You, Whoever You're Dialing And the Government." The ad, which also includes a written statement about alleged government privacy abuses, includes a link to a special ACLU Web site dealing with the issue.
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