The Politically Incorrect Show - 05/12/2000

[Music - Die Fledermaus]

Good afternoon, Kaya Oraaa & welcome to the Politically Incorrect Show on the free speech network, Radio Pacific, for Tuesday December 5, proudly sponsored by Neanderton Nicotine Ltd., the show that says bugger the politicians & bureaucrats & all the other bossyboot busybodies who try to run our lives with our money; that stands tall for free enterprise, achievement, profit, & excellence, against the state-worshippers in our midst; that stands above all for the most sacred thing in the universe, the liberty of the human individual.

[Music up, music down!]

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers & effects, against unreasonable searches & seizures, shall not be violated," says the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Article 21 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights says, "Everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure, whether of the person, property, or correspondence or otherwise." The United States government routinely violates these tenets through its War on Drugs & in a variety of other ways; the New Zealand government, via the IRD, has just violated them in requiring our Internet registry, Domainz, to hand over details of every Internet site registered here. The government is further seeking the right to snoop on e-mail. Internet Service Providers would be required to set up a "black box" on their premises that would give government agencies access to the e-mails, not just of the objects of suspicion, but everybody. In Britain, the picture is even more alarming. I quote from a recent BBC news item:

"Civil liberties campaigners have warned the government that granting police and secret services greater snooping powers would be a breach of human rights. It has been reported that British intelligence services and the police are seeking powers to log all telephone calls, e-mails and internet traffic in the UK... The Home Office has confirmed a report in The Observer newspaper that MI5, MI6 and the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) are jointly requesting new legislation requiring communication service providers (CSPs) to log phone calls and keep details for seven years ... Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live's Andrew Neil Show, Home Office minister Paul Boateng said the government would strive 'to get the balance right' between the demands of industry and the demands of law enforcement. It is said the new powers are needed to tackle the growing problems of cyber crime, paedophiles' use of computers to run child porn rings, terrorism and international drug trafficking.

"Politicians have condemned the proposal. The Conservative peer and privacy expert Lord Cope told The Observer he was sympathetic to the need for greater powers to fight modern types of crime but had concerns about the proposal. 'Vast banks of information on every member of the public can quickly slip into the world of Big Brother. I will be asking serious questions about this,' he said."

One would hope that SOMEONE will be asking serious questions about this - & seeking a serious "No!" as an answer. The price of liberty is eternal vigilance, said Thomas Jefferson, who also observed that "the natural order of things is for liberty to yield & government to gain ground." Give the government an inch &, if not restrained, it will take a mile. It is proper for government to have "reasonable" powers to investigate those it suspects of criminal activities - activities that can LEGITIMATELY be deemed as "criminal," that is, unlike drug trafficking, which cannot be. It is utterly IMproper for government to have unimpeded access to EVERYBODY's private documents. In this country, this "black box" proposal should be fought tooth & nail. It is akin to saying that because child rape occurs in SOME houses, government should have ready access to ALL houses at any time.

The day that idea is accepted as a tenet of justice will be the day Article 21 of the Bill of Rights is declared a nullity & justice is no more. Don't say you weren't warned.

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