Re: Technology and Privacy

[declan@well.com (Declan McCullagh)]

The June 11 letter was from Jack King, a quite clueful and thoughtful D.C.
attorney who has been diligent in tracking the war on (some) drugs. Hardly
an alarmist.

Why can't I quite bring myself to trust "Barrie A. Vernon?"

-Declan



>   The Washington Post, July 1, 1996, p. A16.
>
>
>   Technology and Privacy [Letter]
>
>
>   In reference to the May 31 editorial "Plant Lights and
>   Privacy" commenting on an 11th Circuit Court of Appeals
>   decision to uphold the use of thermal imaging in cases
>   involving indoor marijuana growing operations: The U.S.
>   Supreme Court had just declined to review that 11th Circuit
>   decision.
>
>   On June 11, The Post published a letter from Jack King
>   ["When Government Can Look Through Walls"] warning us that
>   thermal imaging, as developed by the military and as used
>   by civilian law enforcement agencies with the cooperation
>   of the military, posed an Orwellian threat to citizens
>   because the government could use the technology to tell if
>   two people were making love in the privacy of their
>   bedroom.
>
>   To set the record straight, military thermal imaging is
>   used to support civilian law enforcement only after other
>   probable cause for a search warrant, such as power bills,
>   observation of boarded-up windows, vents on the roof to
>   draw away heat and buys by confidential informants, are
>   documented. The military is then called in, using thermal
>   imagers, to determine if there is an unusual heat source in
>   the house as detected by heat escaping from the house. In
>   dozens of cases where thermal imaging was used, I have not
>   observed one case where it could detect the activity of
>   people in a house, let alone a bedroom. I also have not
>   observed the technology to have the ability to detect what
>   people are doing in any room behind closed doors, covered
>   windows and walls other than to detect blurs or shadows
>   moving around behind light curtains.
>
>   The United States v. Cusumano language quoted by Mr. King
>   was reversed last month by the court because the original
>   three judges decided it was an issue that didn't need
>   deciding, i.e. the constitutionality of thermal imaging
>   absent a search warrant, and did not exercise "judicial
>   restraint."
>
>   The trend to Mr. King's "militarization" of the war on
>   drugs, based on a decision by then-secretary of defense
>   Richard Cheney that drug use represented a threat to our
>   national security, is being carried out with restraint,
>   respect for the law and an appropriate appreciation for the
>   privacy of our citizens.
>
>   Barrie A. Vernon
>   Alexandria
>   The writer is an attorney with the National Guard Bureau at
>   the Pentagon working in support of the counter-drug
>   directorate.
>
>   [End]
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