... the barage of posts talking about constitional rights, the Bush Administration and, of course, the 569 jokes about the "terrorists already winnning". But seriously, does anyone thing they have an absolute Constitional Right to anonymity when they use the internet or check out books in the library?
I know that even posing the question is going to be seriously unpopular, but it should be asked.
The question you should be asking is whether you have the freedom from pervasive government oversight as a result of Constitutional statute. Anonymity has never been a right of every citizen (that's the American way, just ask the advertising and marketing industry). However, there is a reasonable expectation to freedom from having our actions _overseen_ by our own government. It's one of the core distinctions of democracy itself, that the citizenry are the government's overseers, not the other way around.
The right to free speech isn't at issue here -- it's the freedom from unwarranted search and seizure (Amend. IV of the Bill of Rights) that has, in the modern age, been widely (and often inbcorrectly) interpreted as granting some notion of privacy. And it has nothing to do with democracy per se, rather the tyranny of powerful states that the framers were trying to avoid.
Of course, we seem to be heading in that very direction now anyway.
Actually, free speech rights are an issue here. This takes away the First Amendment right of the librarian to speak out against the unjust treatment of the patrons whose Fourth Amendment rights are being violated.
Unfortuantely, "We the people" have allowed our Governement to become the overseers, and we have shirked our responsibility as the government's overseer. I have the feeling that as a whole, Americans are a bunch of spoiled children. Americans don't want to be responsible or to work. There are exceptions, but the majority seems to prefer that the government act as a parent. There is moaning and complaining, but no action is taken to make things different.
If "We the people" don't like it, it is up to "we the people" to change it.
Unfortuantely, "We the people" have allowed our Governement to become the overseers, and we have shirked our responsibility as the government's overseer.
Thing is that most Americans don't even appear to understand this. Governments can be, like fire, good servents or bad masters.
I have the feeling that as a whole, Americans are a bunch of spoiled children. Americans don't want to be responsible or to work. There are exceptions, but the majority seems to prefer that the government act as a parent. There is moaning and complaining, but no action is taken to make things different.
Some of the moaning and complaining being along the line of complaining about too much government interference in some way or other at the same time demanding that government "do something" in some other area.
Anonymity has never been a right of every citizen (that's the American way, just ask the advertising and marketing industry).
"The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." -- 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Just because the right to anonymity isn't enumerated doesn't mean it's nonexistent. Given the situation and the values of the framers during the time the U.S. was founded, and especially given the anonymous nature of the Federalist Papers, I'd say the framers probably thought that anonymity was a right even if they didn't explicitly enumerate it.
"The C Programming Language -- A language which combines the flexibility of
assembly language with the power of assembly language."
I can already see ... (Score:5, Insightful)
... the barage of posts talking about constitional rights, the Bush Administration and, of course, the 569 jokes about the "terrorists already winnning". But seriously, does anyone thing they have an absolute Constitional Right to anonymity when they use the internet or check out books in the library?
I know that even posing the question is going to be seriously unpopular, but it should be asked.
Re:I can already see ... (Score:5, Insightful)
The question you should be asking is whether you have the freedom from pervasive government oversight as a result of Constitutional statute. Anonymity has never been a right of every citizen (that's the American way, just ask the advertising and marketing industry). However, there is a reasonable expectation to freedom from having our actions _overseen_ by our own government. It's one of the core distinctions of democracy itself, that the citizenry are the government's overseers, not the other way around.
Re:I can already see ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course, we seem to be heading in that very direction now anyway.
Did you vote today?
Re:I can already see ... (Score:1)
Re:I can already see ... (Score:1)
guilty until proven innocent...
Re:I can already see ... (Score:1)
If "We the people" don't like it, it is up to "we the people" to change it.
Re:I can already see ... (Score:2)
Thing is that most Americans don't even appear to understand this. Governments can be, like fire, good servents or bad masters.
I have the feeling that as a whole, Americans are a bunch of spoiled children. Americans don't want to be responsible or to work. There are exceptions, but the majority seems to prefer that the government act as a parent. There is moaning and complaining, but no action is taken to make things different.
Some of the moaning and complaining being along the line of complaining about too much government interference in some way or other at the same time demanding that government "do something" in some other area.
Re:I can already see ... (Score:2)
"The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." -- 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Just because the right to anonymity isn't enumerated doesn't mean it's nonexistent. Given the situation and the values of the framers during the time the U.S. was founded, and especially given the anonymous nature of the Federalist Papers, I'd say the framers probably thought that anonymity was a right even if they didn't explicitly enumerate it.