public privacy, NSA resources

[ld231782@longs.lance.colostate.edu]

Some ideas on just how "public" public servants' communication is have
been raised here.

>I have to concur. ALL documents produced by a public official operating an
>email system on public time and in pursuit of public policy (e.g. a White
>House official) should be subject to scrutiny and should not be considered as
>that person's private property.  (deltorto@aol.com)

I'd like to take this a bit further. The new emerging technology of
global networking is a means for previously uninfluential citizens to
take back control of our governments.  Is it just me, or does it seem
like the US version is way out of control?  Growing uncontrollably like
a cancerous tumor?  As a citizen of this country I am vehemently irate
at public servants who use their positions and influence to thwart
their own laws (e.g. Congress is exempt from many laws it passes). 
There seems to be a real undercurrent of stonewalling everywhere, and
the insideous attitude that the public is not who you serve, but who
you mislead to get more money or power.  Why shouldn't every budget of
every federal agency be public knowledge?  I could see where MY TAX
MONEY is being spent.  Why shouldn't I be able to determine what any
given US public official (elected or unelected) is doing on a given
day?  What a given agency is accomplishing?  Because its impractical? 
Because it's not my business?  HAH!  It is not only practical, but will
eventually happen.  Imagine if all this information were stored in a
single unified public database...!  As accessable as a library book? 
Imagine the horrors we would uncover!  (Interesting: technology will
greater polarize the distinctions of "public" and "private" information.)

The possibility of greater control over tax money is here too.  Some
presidential candidate (I forget who, Perot?) suggested having a box on
the tax form that would allow constituents to direct money directly to
the federal deficit.  Of course, in today's atmosphere of complete
fiscal irresponsibility and obfuscation such an idea is completely
meaningless. But in the government of tomorrow, we will have must
broader control over directing where our tax money will go.  Imagine
that I was required to spend a certain amount of money on government
services (my total taxes) but that I could redirect the actual amounts
to agencies (in broad categories) that serve me best.  Suppose that
even *private companies* could compete for this money on my tax form! 
It would almost be as if the federal government didn't even exist--our
government would be nothing but a method of reallocating money in the
most efficient way possible.  (Hm, I think I'll give $0.001 to the NSA
this year, hehe.)

Regarding inefficiency, note the sheer obstacles that "whistleblowers"
encounter in our government. Most are lucky to just be demoted.  Others
are harassed and threatened and fired, or worse.  All this for
potentially saving money and making an organization more efficient!  We
need to elevate the whistleblower to heroic status, and encourage every
member of the US population to be one if possible.  I'm not advocating
paranoia or violent revolution, just that we increase our vigilance by
increasingly exercising our rightful control with the aid of fresh
technological developments.

- - -

>FRONTAL ATTACK ON THE PUZZLE PALACE
>by Lance Rose

>Since that time, the NSA
>has steadily cast a pall over public use and knowledge of cryptography, and
>generally regulated the limits of privacy in this country.  It has done so with
>40,000 or more active employees, and funding not readily discernible from
>inspecting Congressional budget lines.

40,000?  Is this for real? Does anyone know how this would compare to
FBI or CIA?  Also, does anyone have a clue on the black budget?  The
author seems to hint here that while it is not "readily discernible" it
might be inferrable.

There were a lot of files maintained by the FBI on suspected communists
during the McCarthy era.  I wonder what delicious little morsels have
been squirreled away in the bowels of our massive behemoth?  Esp. with
the scarily massive capabilities of archival possible with today's
storage technologies...