FC: Weekly column on Mike Hawash: Guilty until proven innocent

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://news.com.com/2010-1071-996625.html

   Guilty until proven innocent
   By Declan McCullagh
   April 14, 2003, 4:00 AM PT

   Intel engineer Mike Hawash is in solitary confinement in a federal
   prison in Sheridan, Ore.

   On Mar. 20, the FBI arrested Hawash at gunpoint in Intel's parking lot
   near Portland for reasons that remain confidential. A 38-year-old
   American citizen with a wife and three children, he has not been
   charged with a crime.

   This is a development that deserves close attention in the technology
   community. More than other industries, the computer business relies on
   immigrants. And some, like Hawash, are getting caught up in the U.S.
   Justice Department's campaign against suspected domestic terrorists.

   The Hawash case is not an isolated situation. I wrote recently about
   how Attorney General Ashcroft wants more power to snoop on the
   Internet, observing private conversations by installing secret
   microphones, spyware and keystroke loggers. Combine that with the
   broad powers that the Justice Department received under the 2001
   Patriot Act, and you've got a situation that concentrates a tremendous
   amount of surveillance power in a small group of federal police and
   prosecutors.

   [...]




-------------------------------------------------------------------------
POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list
You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html
This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/
Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------