November 18, 2002
Letter to President Bush
Regarding Total Information Awareness
Letter to President Bush
Regarding Total Information Awareness
November 18, 2002
The President
The White House
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President,
I am writing to ask that you renounce and take all action necessary to terminate the new Defense Department “Total Information Awareness” program that would provide government officials with the ability to snoop into all aspects of our private lives without a search warrant or proof of criminal wrongdoing.
Recent media reports have said that the Pentagon’s new Office of Information Awareness is building a system called “Total Information Awareness.” This computer system would effectively provide government officials with immediate access to our personal information: all of our communications (phone calls, emails and web searches), financial records, purchases, prescriptions, school records, medical records and travel history. Under this program, our entire lives would be catalogued and available to government officials.
I find it disgraceful that there are government officials who think that they should treat all Americans as though they are suspects and therefore “fair game” for government snooping and spying. I believe that the principles enshrined in the Constitution and Bill of Rights sought to protect my privacy rights and I do not believe that bureaucrats in Washington should have the most intimate details of my life available on their computers to be pawed through at their whim.
I fully appreciate that the government may need to intrusively investigate specific individuals who may be planning to do us harm. Our current legal system provides the ability for such investigation to occur within judicial constraints. I also believe that rather than seeking to investigate some 270 million Americans, law enforcement officials should instead be focusing on the small number of people who are real suspects.
I hope that you will take immediate action to terminate the “Total Information Awareness” Program and look forward to receiving your response.
Sincerely,
James Landrith