FC: Stu Baker replies to Politech post on ISPs and EFF founder

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

[I thank Stu for responding with his usual clarity of purpose. A brief 
response: Friends of liberty should not be ashamed to say that important 
rights must not be abridged, period. (If we hold that is unacceptable for 
police to, for example, torture citizens, should we reevaluate that 
position in light of "new data?") As for wiretaps, there are good reasons 
to require strict judicial oversight and careful scrutiny of surveillance, 
and those reasons do not simply disappear because of the tragic Sep. 11 
attacks. The Supreme Court got it right in 1967 when saying that "few 
threats to liberty exist which are greater than those posed by the use of 
eavesdropping devices." As awful as the Sep. 11 attacks were, they do not 
mean we should simply ignore the Fourth Amendment and the rest of the U.S. 
Constitution. Now is the time to follow it most rigorously. --Declan]

*********

From: "Baker, Stewart" <SBaker () steptoe com>
To: "'declan () well com'" <declan () well com>, politech () politechbot com
cc: "Albertazzie, Sally" <SAlbertazzie () steptoe com>
Subject: RE: FBI requires ISPs to permit easy surveillance; EFF founder
 ag rees
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 14:52:52 -0400

Declan,

I guess I ought to know what Mitch said and didn't say  at this event.   In
fact, I took Mitch's remarks as an olive branch and an invitation to more
civil discourse now that we have a keener sense of how much unites rather
than divides us.  He didn't say he was willing to abandon principle for
expediency.  He did say that he defines himself as many things, and civil
liberties advocate is (just) one of them.  He also said he is open to
reconsidering his views in the aftermath of September 11.  Well, who isn't?
Only an ideologue would refuse to reconsider his views in the light of new
data (or would accuse those who do of abandoning principles for expediency).
But in fact, Mitch held up the civil liberties end of the discussion with
dignity and moderation, offering a determined argument against national id
cards, for example.

Stewart Baker




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