Wired News informs us that the U.S. May Get a Privacy Czar. [former chief privacy officer under Clinton] Swire said in addition to establishing federal privacy oversight, the bill would help "broaden the national debate on privacy so that it's harder to slip into a surveillance state." Mr. Swire, I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that the establishment of a federal privacy czar might not prevent us from slipping into a surveillance state.
"This will send a stronger message to Silicon Valley and the private sector that the government holds high individual privacy," [Rep. Kendrick] Meek said. Or, alternatively, you could abolish the income tax, social security numbers and all the other tracking and meddling that casts doubt on the government's commitment to individual privacy.
[Thanks to satirist Richard Taylor for the title of this blog].
