An email from the ACLU

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From: ACLU Action Network <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Date: 18 Mar 2004, 10:53:17 AM
Subject: Oppose the New Ashcroft Internet Snooping Request



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From: Matt Howes, National Internet Organizer, ACLU
To: ACLU Action Network Members
Date: March 18, 2004

Not satisfied with the new snooping powers granted by the PATRIOT Act, the Department of Justice is now asking the Federal Communications Commission to allow law enforcement the power to regulate the design of Internet communications services to make them easy to wiretap.


If implemented, the new request by Attorney General John Ashcroft would dramatically increase the government’s surveillance powers and set a precedent for opening the entire Internet to law enforcement. By forcing technology companies to build “backdoors” in their systems for wiretapping, the Ashcroft plan would also create weaknesses that hackers and thieves could use to invade your privacy and steal personal information like credit card numbers.


The government already has more than enough power to spy on individuals suspected of wrongdoing. This measure is the equivalent of requiring all new homes be built with a peephole for law enforcement agents to look through.


Take Action! Tell the FCC and Congress that you oppose these new wiretapping requirements.


Click here for more information and to send a free fax to the FCC Chairman and your Members of Congress:


http://www.aclu.org/Privacy/Privacy.cfm?ID=15264&c=39


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