The nerds strike back, part two

Also recommended is an October 18 column by CNET News.com's Washington, DC correspondent, Declan McCullagh, where he takes on a largely-ignored issue: the serious threats to privacy contained in the House and Senate bills, now in conference, to "reform" the intelligence apparatus of the US.

Among the threats McCullagh lists are:

- proposals for a database storing a "lifetime travel history" of US citizens and foreign nationals.

- development of a "secure information sharing" network linking law enforcement, military and spy agencies; no information on what databases would be included or how this super-sized network of personal information would be overseen.

- an "integrated screening system" where people would have to show federally-issued IDs at checkpoints near subways, airports, bus stations, train stations, federal buildings, telephone companies, Internet hubs, and any other "critical infrastructure" facility deemed vulnerable to terrorist attacks; apparently the cliche "your papers, please," would no longer have to be said with a phony German accent.

- creation of a de facto national ID card by ruling that federal programs will only accept as ID state-issued documents that conform to not-yet-set standards, which, as McCullagh notes, would affect anyone "who wants to get a U.S. passport, obtain Social Security benefits, or even wander into a federal courthouse."

McCullagh observes that in pushing for the massive power grab,

politicians appear to have seized on what could be called the Patriot Act strategy, drafting antiterrorism legislation in secret and then ramming it through the Senate and House of Representatives with minimal debate. Then it's back to the home districts to boast how they protected voters from the bad guys.

It's way past time to raise the old question: Who watches the watchers?

The bill should be trashed.