They're watching us


The NY Times is reporting today that the FBI has been conducting undercover surveillance of domestic activist groups like Greenpeace, PETA, and the Catholic Workers group. For every one who wondered, is the Spygate story was really a big deal, this is a perfect indication of why civil libertarians (real civil libertarians, that is, not paid attack dogs for the cigarette industry or restaurant associations) are so scared right now...
WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 - Counterterrorism agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation have conducted numerous surveillance and intelligence-gathering operations that involved, at least indirectly, groups active in causes as diverse as the environment, animal cruelty and poverty relief, newly disclosed agency records show.
After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, John Ashcroft, who was then attorney general, loosened restrictions on the F.B.I.'s investigative powers, giving the bureau greater ability to visit and monitor Web sites, mosques and other public entities in developing terrorism leads. The bureau has used that authority to investigate not only groups with suspected ties to foreign terrorists, but also protest groups suspected of having links to violent or disruptive activities.
But the documents, coming after the Bush administration's confirmation that President Bush had authorized some spying without warrants in fighting terrorism, prompted charges from civil rights advocates that the government had improperly blurred the line between terrorism and acts of civil disobedience and lawful protest.

The first conclusion I reach is that the Bush government can not be trusted to use the powers it legally has to go after the real terrorists instead of the activist groups who disagree with either their corporate sponsors or the administration's own goals. This was also demonstrated by news that there is a Pentagon database that shows the U.S. government is collecting information on American peace activists and monitoring their protests against the war.
This is exactly why we are reluctant to provide such power to the government in the first place, because there is too much of a possibility that it will be used to support the administration and against the people.

The second troubling problem from these reports is this: How can the government protect us from real threats when they are spending resources going after FUCKING PETA??????!!!!!!! Come on! Have you ever seen a PETA protester? I know that MoCo is scared of these folks, but there is nothing they do more dangerous than red paint (yes, and their friends use video cameras in a threatening manner; ah! run away!!!). Hello, Gonzales? Please put down your Penthouse and tell me where is Osama?

Posted: Tue - December 20, 2005 at 08:24 AM        

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