Homeland Security Head: If You Want Security, You've Gotta Give Up Privacy


USA Today has an okay interview with Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff. What he didn't say: how Chertoff is going to head off the political abuse of his department, namely the political machinations that Tom Ridge said were behind so many of the "terror alerts" during Bush's first four years. What Chertoff did say: security trumps privacy:

"The average American gives information up to get a CVS (drugstore discount) card that is far more in-depth than TSA's going to be looking at," Chertoff told reporters and editors at USA TODAY's headquarters in McLean, Va.
True -- that's why a growing number of people DON'T sign up for those cards at grocery stores and drug stores that let them track every single purchase you make, sell it to any and all comers and give you very little in return. Heck, when I buy a battery at Radio Shack and they demand my phone number, I get into a five minute argument every time.
"Would you rather give up your address and date of birth to a secure database and not be pulled aside and questioned," he said, "or would you rather not give it up and have an increased likelihood that you're going to be called out of line and someone's going to do a secondary search of your bag and they're going to ask you a lot of personal questions in the full view of everybody else?"

"Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Ben Franklin 1759

Posted: Fri - August 12, 2005 at 10:26 AM          

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