FC: Salon on TIPS informant program and America's Most Wanted

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Wed Aug 07 2002 - 23:22:35 PDT

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    Date: Wed,  7 Aug 2002 11:39:00 -0400
    From: Chris Scott <chrisat_private>
    To: Declan McCullagh <declanat_private>
    Subject: More on TIPS
    
    Hi Declan,
    
    Not sure if you saw this from Salon on TIPS:
    http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2002/08/06/tips/index_np.html
    
    
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    Date: Wed, 07 Aug 2002 11:16:00 -0400
    From: "Scott W. Langill" <slangillat_private>
    Organization: plausiblereliability.com
    To: Declan McCullagh <declanat_private>
    Subject: Infotainment Noir.....
    
    In Surreal Development, Bush Administration
    Routes TIPS Calls to TV Show "America's Most Wanted"
    
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
    Tuesday, August 6, 2002
    
    WASHINGTON - In a development bordering on what the American Civil
    Liberties Union called "surreal," the on-line magazine Salon.com today
    revealed that the Department of Justice is forwarding incoming Operation
    TIPS calls to the Fox-owned "America's Most Wanted" television series.
    
    "This is like retaining Arthur Andersen to do all of the SEC's
    accounting," said Rachel King, an ACLU Legislative Counsel. "It's a
    completely inappropriate and frightening intermingling of government
    power and the private sector. What's next - the government hires Candid
    Camera to do its video surveillance?"
    
    "If it continues to cooperate with the government on Operation TIPS,
    America's Most Wanted should move networks and rename itself 'Big
    Brother,'" King said.
    
    The author of the Salon article, David Lindorff, reportedly signed up
    for TIPS more than a month ago, heard nothing and followed up last week
    with a phone call to the Department of Justice, the agency responsible
    for overseeing the proposed program. The department gave Lindorff
    another phone number, which it said had been set up by the FBI. When he
    dialed that number, Lindorff was greeted by a receptionist for
    "America's Most Wanted," which features reenactments of unsolved crimes
    and then asks the public to phone in leads and tips.
    
    Shocked that the number did not connect to the FBI, Lindorff was told,
    "We've been asked to take the FBI's TIPS calls for them." The ACLU today
    said that, not only does the Operation TIPS program on its own pose
    serious threats to the American ideal that neighbors not be expected to
    inform on neighbors, but the program, when coupled with the power and
    profit incentives of television, could enhance its resemblance to Big
    Brother through sensationalism and the thirst for advertising revenue.
    
    Even before its partnering with Fox Television, the Operation TIPS
    program has come under a barrage of criticism from both the left and the
    right. House Majority Leader Richard Armey (R-TX), one of the most
    powerful and conservative members of Congress, introduced a measure in
    his chamber's version of the Homeland Security legislation that would
    prohibit the implementation of TIPS and other similar measures. Sen.
    Patrick Leahy (D-VT), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has
    also opposed the proposal, saying "We could be vigilant, but we don't
    want to be vigilantes."
    
    "Why stop with America's Most Wanted?" King added. "If a sensational
    story is what it was looking for, the Department of Justice should have
    just hired Jerry Springer as its public information officer."
    
    The Salon article can be found on-line at:
    
    http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2002/08/06/tips/index_np.html
    
    Copyright 2002, The American Civil Liberties Union
    
    @#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*
    Scott W. Langill                If Stupidity got us into this mess, then
    slangillat_private            why can't it get us out? - Will Rogers
    @#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*@#!*
    
    
    
    
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