Alito, Democracy, Freedom, Privacy, America

So it’s now Associate Justice Samuel Alito. What will become of my America now?

What will become of the checks and balances the founding fathers (mothers were considered chattel in the “good old days”) so carefully constructed in the Constitution? That very same Constitution Alito and his fellow strict constructionists profess to revere? The current White House occupant has stretched the concept of the Imperial Presidency to its zenith; President Bush obviously thinks can do anything he wants to do – just as long as he can tie it – however tenuously – to national security, the war on terror, al-Qaeda. And a newly right-tilting Supreme Court is unlikely to tighten the leash on even this runaway Presidency especially if Alito – who has upheld executive branch power in his lower court rulings – becomes the deciding vote.

And what of privacy in a world where the White House thinks it can eavesdrop on any American’s phone conversation without court permission – just on some low level operative’s suspicion there may be an insipient terrorist supporter on the other end. Next will be e-mail; the Bush Administration has already asked the FCC to force internet providers to build the equivalent of wiretapping code into their software. The Justice Department has already demanded search companies turn over millions of websites scanned by users – a demand only Google is resisting. This time our names are stripped off the searches; next time they won’t be.

And oh yes --- there’s that other privacy issue. A woman’s right to control her own body. Otherwise known as Roe v. Wade. Will we be forced back to the future --- and have only dangerous back street abortions again or desperate, botched wire hanger attempts in our bloody bathrooms?

Is this the America I signed up for? Stop the world; I want to get off.

You Can't Google This

In a way Google has become a synonym for everything the internet can offer. How many times a day do you say “I’ll just Google it” when you need to know something, anything? I’ll bet Gen Y-ers don’t even know that “to Google” isn’t really a legitimate verb.

So what’s going on with Google? First – the California search company resists a Justice Department subpoena for tons of web search data. And then it complies with China’s censors and deploys a stripped-down search engine for Chinese web surfers that won’t pull up sites devoted to human rights, or freedom of speech, or even sex.

Google of course isn’t the only company kowtowing to China. The continuing accommodation of ALL companies to China's communist government is extremely worrisome to free speech advocates. Companies are so desperate for China's business -- because of the market's size -- it seems they are willing to do almost anything to get it.

It is particularly ironic that Google was the only search company in the US to resist DOJ's subpoena for search results (with names stripped out) -- an admirable stance at a time when the Bush administration wants to get its hands on more and more personal information. And it seems rather inconsistent -- until you look at Google’s stock price. It went down on resistance in the US last week -- and up yesterday morning on the prospect of more Chinese business.

Since the short term focus of the big investors and hedge funds drives almost all business decisions these days --- you can see where all this is heading. Right to a world where the really important things in life like human rights and free speech will be blithely jettisoned -- when and if they get in the way of making more money! Just my not-so-humble opinion.