The Road to 1984, paved with good intentions

The Recent (and Past) History of Telecoms and the Law
(see recent posts here, here, here, here, here and here.)

1. From Monopoly to Oligopoly. Over the best intentions of the government to bring about competition during the past three decades, two very large and powerful telecom companies, AT&T and Verizon, have reorganized and pulled back together the bulk of the old Ma Bell, adding wireless and Internet and video along the way.
2. Might Makes Right. These companies have a history of seeing the law not so much as an absolute boundary to be respected, but more as a flexible, malleable boundary that they can change with enough money and enough political influence and enough time.
3. Good PR is Good Cover. These companies have demonstrated a history of well-calculated success in changing the law and regulations and then managing public opinion to suit their purposes and benefit their strategies. They're good at what they do, especially when it comes to getting their way.
4. Behind the Scenes. These companies have long enjoyed a cozy relationship with lawmakers and regulators, where together they share a desire to blur the lines between business and government.
5. You Scratch My Back ... These same companies have recently been found guilty of breaking the law for sharing private customer data with the federal government when it asked, but doing so without a warrant as the law required.
6. Get Out of Jail Free Card. Wrapped into "public security" legislation being promoted by the Bush administration in a climate of fear combined with very slick political maneuvering, is a provision to overturn the court's ruling against the telecoms with retroactive legislation that will give the telecoms immunity from prosecution for their law breaking. Some believe the reason documents requested by the Senate from the White House went to the Intelligence Committee instead of the Judiciary Committee was so that they could tie the request for records to a quid pro quo demand to immunize the telecoms.
7. Power, Attitude, Vision. The telecom companies control vast sums of money, unprecedented political influence, and through their information networks, they enjoy views into our private lives like never before. They have greater capability than ever to abuse their positions of trust. Which is not to say they will always do so, but this is not a good start.
8. Checks & Balances. The only thing that stands between routine violations of privacy, indeed total loss of privacy, by a repetition of these events is a credible legal barrier that keeps these network operators in check.
9. Big Brother - Not Yet. And that is the challenge raised by recent events, and that's why I think the Democrats will make this a big deal, starting with Sen. Dodd's filibuster and moving on to the presidential campaign next year.

The Recent History of the Bush Administration

1. Signing Statements = Line Item Veto. Throughout his administration, when Bush signs a new law, whatever the law, he generally accompanies it with a Signing Statement that says what pieces he agrees with and will enforce, and what he disagrees with and will disregard. In essence, a line-item veto, which the law does not give him, but which he takes nonetheless. What does "law" mean anymore with that kind of attitude? He neuters our law-making body, the Congress, with signing statements.
2. The Constitution - "More guidelines than rules per se". Sworn to uphold the Constitution, Bush has instead subjected it to the widest of interpretations to fit his policies, their maneuvers more often struck down than upheld by the courts, but too often not reviewed or challenged at all. And when that happens, Bush can always go back to the Congress to change the very laws his administration has been deemed in violation of, in effect, to retroactively overturn the court's ruling. What does "law" mean anymore with that kind of attitude? He neuters our court system, turning our rule of law upside down with such manipulation of the Congress.
3. Secrecy - What they don't know won't hurt them. Unlike any other administration, this one uses every power at its command to keep things behind the scenes and to avoid investigation and scrutiny. Under the cloak of National Security, any number of issues remain behind the curtain, and the cloak can cover up a lot of things.
4. Government Outsourcing - Let's Get This Party Started. From Blackwater to Halliburton, this administration has overseen a transfer of functions to the private sector and an incredible coziness with large corporate interests, from K Street to Wall Street. Government's role almost appears to have become to take care of large corporations first and the people second to screw the people. And to hear former Qwest CEO Nacchio tell it, telecoms are part of the large corporate feeding frenzy at the government trough.
5. National Security - The Mother of all Trump Cards. It's as if all legal rules and social mores have been suspended in the interests of National Security. We have lost our way when we see:
a. the US use torture and "rendition" so that it becomes commonplace and innocents are arrested, abused, then released with no apology;
b. the US suspend habeus corpus and allow their president to throw people in jail with no charges;
c. the US attack a country unprovoked, under a cloud of deception, against world opinion, and now, against US public opinion;
d. the US rattle sabers to attack another country, again in this preventative mode, in the absence of pursuing a diplomatic alternative;
e the US run up hundreds of billions of dollars to wage a war, with billions more to come, but no tax to pay for it and then those same leaders say that health care for poor children cannot be paid for, can't be afforded;
f. the US Justice Department brings charges against political opponents with impunity, even throwing a Democratic governor in jail, while ignoring Republican malfeasance in that same state; and
g. the US government and large corporations conspire to spy on their own citizens and customers on a wholesale basis, and when after such behavior has been uncovered, make strong-arm attempts to retroactively immunize those culpable.

When all these things happen in a short six years, one must ask - What happened to us and our wonderful country? What comes next? Will broadband Internet help us or hurt us even more?

The cynic in me says that until this trend is stopped, its logical to expect more law-breaking, more spying. And when that is discovered, expect more amnesties, more chipping away at the protections built into the law, more eroding of the law itself. And if the trend continues long enough, expect such behavior to become the norm and expect our government and society to lose all semblance of democratic reality. Down will have become Up, and Up, Down. Truth will be more and more Lies, Lies will be held up as Truth. Welcome to 1984. It didn't come in 36 years, as Orwell predicted, and it may not come until even one hundred years after publication - 2048, only 41 years from now, when my son will be my age. But this future awaits us if we do nothing to stem these trends.

On the bright side, and that's hard to find after writing a post like this - at least it doesn't look like this direction is widely supported. So perhaps there is hope after all. Consider this recent ACLU Poll.

A majority of likely voters in the U.S. oppose giving immunity to telephone companies who sold customer information to the government, according to a survey released Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union.

About 31% of those surveyed said they supported or strongly supported giving such amnesty, with the remaining percentage of voters saying they were undecided.