This week, the US Defence Department asked for new powers to spy on American citizens. J.J. King reports on the view from the blogosphere.

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Deputized to spy

Civil liberties groups in the US and some members of Congress have reacted strongly to a request from a little-known Pentagon agency, the Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA), to be allowed to investigate crimes within the United States such as treason, foreign and terrorist sabotage and economic espionage. According to the Washington Post, the Counterintelligence Field Activity has a secret budget but is believed to already have 1,000 people on its staff.

The Pentagon wants to create an exception to the US Privacy Act which would allow intelligence agencies to share the information they collect on American citizens -- as long as the data is related to foreign intelligence. Senator Ron Wyden told the papers that this was tantamount to 'deputizing the military to spy on law-abiding Americans in America,' and called it a 'huge leap' to take without Congressional hearing.

Pentagon Expanding Its Domestic Surveillance Activity:
washingtonpost.com

Pentagon Increases Spying On US Citizens:
spacewar.com

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Who's Watching The Bloggers?

Some bloggers have already felt the inquisitive presence of the Activity. 'It's come to my attention that my blog [is] monitored by CIFA,' says Spectre AWOL, claiming his logs contain evidence of repeated visits from the spooks.

Likewise the Uncommon Thoughts Journal: 'Today I got a hit from yet another government office I didn't know existed - the Department of Defense Counterintelligence Field Activity. 'I personally see it as an intimidation tactic - an effort to silence dissenting voices. A simple message that says "We are watching you."'

The Spectre on Spooks:
spectreawol.blogspot.com


Uncommon Thought:
uncommonthought.com

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It's Your Terror

CIFA takes its place amidst a gaggle of shadowy, well-lettered secretive organisations - that Nick Turse and Tom Engelhardt describe in their article for AntiWar.com, The Emergence of the Homeland Security State. The 'urge of the Bush administration to bring versions of the methods it's applying abroad back home is already palpable', they argue, bemoaning 'a virtually unopposed increase in the intrusion of military, intelligence, and "security" agencies into the civilian sector of American society.'

In the same week as the Pentagon has asked for increased powers, the EU was also approached by a cartel of copyright owners eager to extend their powers of surveillance over their customers. Companies including Sony BMG, Disney and EMI are demanding European parliament give them access to communications data that includes records of phone calls, web surfing and email.This 'would be a disaster... for civil liberties and human rights in Europe, said Suw Charman, director of digital rights campaigners Open Rights Group.

Between spooks hunting terrorists and corporations hunting pirates, our privacy is dying the Death of a Thousand Cuts. But as FootFace comments in the Huffington Post, 'If you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about. Be sure to download each day's list of New Crimes.'

The Emergence of the Homeland Security State:
www.antiwar.com
Music industry seeks access to private data to fight piracy:
guardian.co.uk