The Baumgarten Report

Sometimes I feel like I’m speaking a different language than some of my fellow Americans.

Today was one such day.

The discussion on News Talk Online on Paltalk.com was about a government policy, kept hidden until it was revealed through a Freedom Of Information Act request, authorizing Customs agents to peruse the personal and business documents of any person entering the United States. And to make copies as well. In the name, of course, of national security.

Even my own online producer and show screener, Boaz Frankel, didn’t seem to get it when I suggested this is an invasive policy. One that takes away rights under the guise of protecting us from those who would, if they could, well, take away our rights.

The fear mongering over terrorism is becoming a bit frightening in and of itself.

Not that we shouldn’t be vigilant. Of course we should. Not that the threat isn’t real. Of course it is. But let’s just not willingly and voluntarily give up our rights in the name of protecting them.

One caller, Malik from Indianapolis, an attorney, points out that all persons in the United States are afforded Constitutional rights. That includes foreign nationals suspected of being terrorists.

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Privacy concerns

Now, in addition to being able to scan your laptops when you enter the United States, Customs agents are being permitted to read and even copy your personal documents.

Details of the relaxed regulations are contained in documents procured in a Freedom Of Information Act request filed by the Asian Law Caucus and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The rules, according to the obtained documents, were actually relaxed last summer without public debate.

“For more than 20 years, the government implicitly recognized that reading and copying the letters, diaries, and personal papers of travelers without reason would chill Americans’ rights to free speech and free expression,” Shirin Sinnar, ALC staff attorney, said in a press release. “But now customs officials can probe into the thoughts and lives of ordinary travelers without any suspicion at all.”

In February, ALC and EFF sued the Department of Homeland Security for failing to disclose its policies on searching and questioning travelers at U.S. borders. ALC, a San Francisco-based civil rights organization, received more than two dozen complaints since last year from U.S. travelers, mostly of Muslim, South Asian, or Middle Eastern origin, who said they were grilled about their families, religious practices, volunteer activities, political beliefs, or associations when returning to the United States from travels abroad.

The travelers said that CBP agents examined their books, handwritten notes, personal photos, laptop computer files, and cell phone directories, and sometimes made copies of this information.

While it is, of course, important, for Homeland Security to fight terrorism in the United States, the personal and business documents of U.S. citizens ought not become the domain of law enforcement without sufficient reason. And there should be public checks and balances to ensure that abuses don’t take place.

The fact that Homeland Security relaxed these rules under the radar, with no announcement nor opportunity for public comment or congressional review makes the decision suspicious.

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Many people have been clamoring for a criminal investigation into the near collapse of the U.S. financial system. Now, apparently, their pleas are being answered.

The Associated Press is reporting that the FBI is investigating Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and AIG for possible fraud.

The AP says Lehman Brothers is also under investigation.

While criminal charges, if they eventually come, won’t make whole those who have been damaged by poor investment decisions, the investigation at least signals that the law applies to everyone in the United States.

Now if we can only find a way to make the bailout plan as equitable!
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