In this age of politics of destruction, it does my heart good to see Republicans and Democrats-from the far right to the far left-unite against a common foe: Big Brother. Yep, Big Brother is the Great Unifier.
So it was last Monday when the House Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution assembled to grill Justice Department officials and listen sympathetically to privacy advocates gripe about an FBI Internet e-mail sniffing beast, called Carnivore.
From the GOP side came tough questioning and sharp criticism of Carnivore from Subcommittee Chairman John Canady (R-Fla.) and Reps. Asa Hutchison (R-Ark.), Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) and Bob Barr (R-Ga.).
Dems weren’t any kinder to Justice officials, who tried earnestly to defend Internet wiretaps. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) ranking minority member of the subcommittee, Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.) and especially Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) gave ’em an earful.
Any of the names ring a bell? I’ll give you a clue: Lewinsky.
These are the same guys who beat each other’s brains out during the House impeachment of President Clinton. These are the same guys, who because their political ideologies and personalities are planets apart, hardly ever agree on anything.
Until now.
What is it about Big Brother that brings these guys together into a fellowship on Capitol Hill?
For Conyers, Watt and other African Americans in Congress, it is the knowledge-based on the Church Commission in 1976-that the FBI wiretapped Martin Luther King Jr. before the civil-rights activist was assassinated in 1968.
It is understandable, too, that Nadler, a Brooklyn-born Jewish congressman, would be equally suspicious of government activities that conjure of images of the kind of police state that killed 6 million of his faith only a little more than a half century ago.
Generally speaking, liberals are leery of Big Brother.
It’s a little harder to figure Republican subcommittee members’ angst over Carnivore. The fact that Carnivore is the brainstorm of the Clinton Justice Department is part of the answer. After Waco, Ruby Ridge, Filegate and the refusal of Attorney General Janet Reno to appoint a special investigator to probe ’96 Clinton-Gore fund raising, Republicans have no use for DOJ.
What a relief for dot-coms and the wireless industry that GOP and Democrats have ganged up on Big Brother. Until now, dot-coms have been the target of congressional ire for usurping consumer privacy. The focus on Carnivore also has provided a forum for complaints against FBI-friendly digital wiretap rules adopted by the FCC.
All this tells you a little bit about how much Americans prize their privacy. Take note wireless dot-coms.
