Year in review: Who's watching you?
Terrorism fears put privacy rights in question and, as Washington prepares for a possible war, the tension between security and privacy is on the rise.
Terrorism fears put privacy rights in question.
With Washington on a wartime footing, the tension between security and freedom, surveillance and privacy has rarely been as acute.
Congress voted to create the Department of Homeland Security, and in doing so gave police more power to eavesdrop on the Internet and ISPs more latitude in turning information about their customers over to the government.
A secretive federal court met for the first time in its history and agreed with Attorney General John Ashcroft that restrictions on federal agents conducting physical, traditional and electronic surveillance were too onerous. The Justice Department gave the public the first hints about how last year's USA Patriot Act provided it with enormous investigative muscle.
John Poindexter, disgraced in the Iran-Contra scandal, became the target of criticism after he was appointed to run a Pentagon agency charged with building a massive antiterror database with information about nearly every American. Another Pentagon agency considered--and rejected--a plan to limit online anonymity by tagging e-mail and Web browsing with unique markers for each Internet user.
But that wasn't all. Microsoft and the Federal Trade Commission settled a privacy investigation into the design of Passport, and Verizon Communications and the Recording Industry of America Association battled over how much anonymity an alleged peer-to-peer pirate should receive. DoubleClick settled a privacy suit, the idea of a national ID card reared its head, and some champions of privacy in the U.S. Congress departed.
The United States may have declared war on terrorism, but could electronic privacy be a little-noticed casualty in this conflict?
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Who's watching you? Terrorism fears put privacy rights in question.
With Washington on a wartime footing, the tension between security and freedom, surveillance and privacy has rarely been as acute. Congress voted to create the Department of Homeland Security, and in doing so gave police more power to eavesdrop on the Internet and ISPs more latitude in turning information about their customers over to the government. A secretive federal court met for the first time in its history and agreed with Attorney General John Ashcroft that restrictions on federal agents conducting physical, traditional and electronic surveillance were too onerous. The Justice Department gave the public the first hints about how last year's USA Patriot Act provided it with enormous investigative muscle. John Poindexter, disgraced in the Iran-Contra scandal, became the target of criticism after he was appointed to run a Pentagon agency charged with building a massive antiterror database with information about nearly every American. Another Pentagon agency considered--and rejected--a plan to limit online anonymity by tagging e-mail and Web browsing with unique markers for each Internet user. But that wasn't all. Microsoft and the Federal Trade Commission settled a privacy investigation into the design of Passport, and Verizon Communications and the Recording Industry of America Association battled over how much anonymity an alleged peer-to-peer pirate should receive. DoubleClick settled a privacy suit, the idea of a national ID card reared its head, and some champions of privacy in the U.S. Congress departed. --Declan McCullagh |  |  Patriot Act said to hinder Net freedoms April 25, 2002 Microsoft, FTC reach privacy settlement August 8, 2002 Verizon subpoena and anonymity September 10, 2002 DOJ responds to House on Patriot Act October 17, 2002 Secret U.S. court OKs electronic spying November 18, 2002 Pentagon drops plan to curb Net anonymity November 22, 2002 Bush signs Department of Homeland Security bill November 25, 2002
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