GAO Says Homeland Security Is Breaking Privacy Laws
from the chalk-another-one-up-for-the-GAO dept
Seems like a week can't go by without the Government Accountability Office weighing in on the latest thing that our government is doing wrong. We've already covered the GAO explaining that piracy isn't as big a problem as the industry would have you believe, that testing of e-voting machines is not up to acceptable levels, that politicians were wrong to blame file sharing for porn and that the FCC really needs to learn how to count broadband penetration. The latest from the GAO is a report noting that the Department of Homeland Security appears to be breaking privacy laws by not telling people how it uses personal information for people flying into and out of the country. With all of these efforts to set our elected officials straight, you'd think that people would hit back against these GAO reports. Unfortunately, it seems like they are almost universally ignored. It's great that the GAO seems to keep telling it like it is -- but when everyone ignores those reports to focus on industry approved talking points, are they really holding anyone accountable?
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No. I call it the "Department of Homeland Insecurity" because it doesn't make us any more secure, but instead panders to our insecurities.
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GAO
Back on thread: The GAO must not be a government agency. First, they seem to do useful things. Their published reports seem to make sense. How do they manage to get funded when they make sense doing useful things? Shouldn't we, as the public, be able to raise some sort of cry that demands the government listen to the GAO?
And, I would love to see the HS office have to publish a list of what information they collect, who they share it with, and a means of correcting stuff on it. Imagine them having to obey at least some law.
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GAO Needs Enforcement Powers
Oh, what to do!
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A joke?
A joke? What kind of joke violates privacy laws? What kind of joke has the ability to intimidate solely through the use of its name "Department of Homeland Security?"
A government agency must abide by the rules. If it doesn't, then it is working against itself. How can it be saying that its job is to enforce the law when it feels it can break the law willy-nilly?
A policeman may not break the law in order to apprehend a criminal, despite what Hollywood would let you believe. Some do, and some may even get away with it, but I don't want to live in a society where that's the expected behavior.
That's similar to the fact that a President and his Executive must abide by the constitution that they've sworn to uphold and defend.
If it's a joke, then the past five and a half years have been the saddest joke in American history.
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This administration is in the toilet
AG Gonzales has long passed the point between sleazy and criminal.
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I saw walker speak at a conference here in DC several years ago, and I was quite impressed with him and especially his integrity. Here is a link to his bio:
http://www.gao.gov/cghome/dwbiog.html
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Rights
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Pinkos
The GAO are obviously a bunch of left-leaning, lily-livered liberal lovers with no grasp of the cherished principles of Democratic Theory as so memorably expounded by John "I Am The Walrus" Bolton on The Daily Show. Don't these people understand that things have changed since 11/9? That we have to keep an eye on these Ay-rabs and people who are trying to undermine the Glorious USian Fatherland? How else are we going to maintain the USA as the #1 bastion of Tolerance, Democracy and Free Speech in the world?
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So the govt. should tell criminals and terrorists exactly how they are trying to catch them?
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Re: random thoughts
You see the problem is that once you take away any freedom for any reason you don't get those freedoms back. Should the government be able to track you anywhere you go? Should they be allowed to break down any door, without a warrant, because they don't want anyone to be tipped off? Should the government be able to put anyone in jail without a trial and keep them there for 6-8 years?
That is my agenda driven crap. You can't let the government go wild, as they have, or next time you will be their target. Torture terrorists today and who tomorrow? If they torture us do we torture them? If they don't torture us do we still torture them?
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