ISIL Freedom Network: United States > Introductions and FAQs > Privacy and Security

Watching You: Systematic Federal Surveillance of Ordinary Americans
Source: Independent Institute
Author: Charlotte Twight
Country: United States

"Federal data collection empowers the United States government to obtain personal information about every American citizen...The result -- and often the purpose -- is a profound erosion of individual autonomy." Available in Adobe PDF format. (10/99)

Encryption Laws and Public Perceptions
Source: Don't Be Fooled!
Author: Anthony L. Snyder
Country: United States
E-mail: dontbefooled@att.net

Restrictions on encryption aren't about protecting us from terrorists or drug dealers -- they're about protecting the government's revenue stream.

What Americans need to know about medical privacy regulations
Source: Institute for Health Freedom
Country: United States

The federal government plans to change the rules governing who has access to your medical records. These changes will make it easier for a wide range of individuals and groups to access your medical information. (11/15/99)

Government agencies share private information
Source: NCPA
Country: United States

"A recent study by the privacy organization Privacilla found that during an 18-month period beginning in September 1999, federal agencies announced 47 times that they would exchange and merge personal information from databases about American citizens." (07/30/01)

Testimony on unique patient identifiers
Source: Citizens' Council on Health Care
Country: United States

Twila Brase, president of Citizens for Choice in Health Care, testifies before the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics in opposition to federal plans to assign each American an identification code for tracking medical data. (7/21/98)

What's happening with the 'unique health identifier' plan?
Source: Institute for Health Freedom
Country: United States

As of Nov. 29, 1999, Congress passed a "temporary, one-year moratorium on federal funding for the government's plan to assign everyone a unique health identifier." (2/00)

Freedom and Privacy Restoration Act of 1999
Source: U.S. Congress
Country: United States

Bill proposed by Rep. Ron Paul "to protect the integrity and confidentiality of Social Security account numbers ..., to prohibit the establishment in the Federal Government of any uniform national identifying number, and to prohibit Federal agencies from imposing standards for identification of individuals on other agencies or persons." (1999)

Identity crisis
Source: Reason
Country: United States

If the government is serious about keeping illegal immigrants from working, a national ID card may be inevitable. (12/97)

Personal identification is too important to be run by the government
Source: Strike the Root
Author: John Bottoms
Country: United States

"The issue of personal identification is only one area where government meddling has undermined a good idea. Social Security is in part a nationalized pension and life insurance plan, FEMA weakens and replaces private disaster insurance, and the Peace Corps does nothing but missionary work for the state. The list is seemingly endless." (01/14/02)

Encrypt for freedom
Source: Strike the Root
Author: John deLaubenfels
Country: United States

"I say this to the government: You can have my secret keys. No, really, you can. Just as soon as you pry them from my cold, dead fingers. Till then, to paraphrase that immortal character from the sitcom Alice, you can 'Kiss My Bits!'" (03/06/02)

Libertarian solutions: why no policy is the government's best policy
Source: LP News
Author: Justin Matlick
Country: United States

"A more effective policy approach would avoid new regulations, relying instead on the market forces that are already driving businesses to regulate themselves. Regulation advocates claim the profit motive contradicts privacy interests, and therefore self-regulation can never work. They're wrong." (09/99)

Whose name is it, anyway?
Source: Backwoods Home
Author: Claire Wolfe
Country: United States

William the Conquerer's Doomsday Book..." was given its name by the people in recognition of its dire purpose: to mercilessly discover, record, assess, and tax everything taxable in the newly cowed country. Among other things, William ordered his subjects to identify themselves by surname." (03/02)

National ID card FAQ
Source: Bureaucrash
Country: United States

Great Q&A introduction to national IDs, why they're so scary, how you can take action against this invasion of privacy, and why that needs to happen *now*.

National ID -- our line in the sand
Source: Backwoods Home Magazine
Author: Claire Wolfe
Country: United States

"National ID isn’t a new idea. American politicians and bureaucrats have been proposing it since the Great Depression. 'Infallible' national ID has been proposed over the years as a means of fighting communism, illegal immigration, crime, census undercounting, terrorism, welfare fraud, and a variety of other disasters du jour." (12/01)

Concealing secret messages using computer graphics
Source: Loompanics
Author: Tom Spitzoli
Country: United States

"America today is a voyeuristic society of snoops, and nothing you ever say or do is completely safe from the prying eyes of others." So how does one get around this in email? (06/02)

Fake ID after 9/11
Source: Loompanics
Author: John Q. Newman
Country: United States

"[T]he states and the federal government are considering numerous proposals that will make obtaining most types of identity documents harder to do. So the central questions to be considered are: What are these proposed changes, how likely are they to be implemented, and what would be the strategy to follow to successfully create a new identity in this atmosphere of enhanced scrutiny?" (2002)

Stop spying! 3 ways to prevent snooping on your PC
Source: ZDNet
Author: Preston Gralla
Country: United States

"How does spyware get on your system in the first place? Usually it comes along with free software downloaded to your PC.... Some people don't mind receiving the ads, and see it as a way to subsidize the cost of the free software. But others think spyware is an invasion of their privacy. ... I've found three programs that can rid your system of this snooping software forever." (12/11/01)

Update on the federal medical privacy rule
Source: Institute for Health Freedom
Author: staff
Country: United States

"Americans are being told they will have stronger medical privacy protections under the revised federal medical privacy rule published in the Federal Register on March 27, 2002. However, the following 'questions and answers' summary shows that the revised rule does not provide patients stronger medical privacy." (04/02)

Rolling in their graves: a history of anonymous speech
Source: JohnDoes.org
Author: Les L. French
Country: United States

An introduction to the role of anonymous speech in the founding and political progress of the United States.

Magic Lantern
Source: Village Voice
Author: Nat Hentoff
Country: United States

"Under the 'sneak and peek' provision of the USA Patriot Act ... the FBI, with a warrant, can break into your home and office when you're not there and, on the first trip, look around. They can examine your hard drive, snatch files, and plant the Magic Lantern on your computer. Once installed, the Magic Lantern creates a record of every time you press a key on the computer." (05/24/02)

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