IP: Scandal taps into a real threat -- spying

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

for full article see url




Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 16:43:38 -0800 (PST)
From: Dan Gillmor <dgillmor () sjmercury com>


http://www.mercurycenter.com/columnists/gillmor/docs/gillmor27.htm






                       Published Tuesday, January 27, 1998, in the San
Jose Mercury News 




                       BY DAN GILLMOR
                       Mercury News Technology Columnist 


     GO down to your nearby mall or neighborhood electronics store or, in
some cities, a ``spy shop,'' and you can buy the technology to spy on your
friends and neighbors. It's cheaper, and easier to hide from the victim,
than ever. 


     What? You recoil at the idea? You have a sense of decency? Too bad
everyone doesn't feel that way. 


      I don't know if Bill Clinton is guilty of recklessness or criminal
acts, both or neither, in this latest parade of allegations. But I
fervently hope that one aspect of this depressing situation -- the taping
of Monica Lewinsky by her alleged friend, Linda Tripp -- will make us
think hard about how quickly we're rushing toward a particularly evil kind
of surveillance society, where friends spy on friends, neighbors spy on
neighbors and children spy on their parents.