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

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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Date: Wed,  7 Aug 2002 11:39:00 -0400
From: Chris Scott <chris () hostorlando tv>
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
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" <slangill () starpower net>
Organization: plausiblereliability.com
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
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

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Scott W. Langill                If Stupidity got us into this mess, then
slangill () starpower net            why can't it get us out? - Will Rogers
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