“Don’t put anything in email that you don’t want published on the front page of the New York Times.”
That was the advice from a physicist friend I worked with at Fermilab way back in the 90’s. In 2015, that advice is more relevant than ever and extends way beyond our email with risks much greater than public humiliation.
Before they break for Memorial Day this year, Congress will be deciding whether to renew the Patriot Act or curtail some of its provisions. Section 215, one of the most controversial, is nicknamed the “Library Records Provision.”
You may remember cases from early days of the Patriot Act in which the FBI ordered libraries to produce records of books borrowed by a target of interest, without a warrant. In the last few years we’ve seen how much more is being gathered through bulk collection of texts, tweets, emails, photos, and virtually all that data we send to the cloud.
John Oliver recently visited Edward Snowden in Russia, and the clip from his show on government surveillance provides a bit of levity on this very complicated issue that needs your attention now.
It’s complex: the technology, balancing security and freedom, what we hear – or don’t – in the media. But if we want to protect our First and Fourth Amendments, we need to dig into it and communicate with each other and our representatives.
I’m Paula Garrett and that’s my perspective.
