By D. Cupples | A quirk of fate exposed an avalanche of scandals collectively known as "Watergate," which brought down President Richard Nixon. A security guard at the Watergate hotel/office complex (pictured right) happened to catch five low-level operatives trying to break into (and tap phones within) the office of people Nixon considered political enemies.
Watergate shook Americans' then-blind trust in government officials, compelling cravings for greater checks against abuse of power. Today's Washington Post reports:
"Federal officials are routinely asking courts to order cellphone companies to furnish real-time tracking data so they can pinpoint the whereabouts of drug traffickers, fugitives and other criminal suspects, according to judges and industry lawyers [and other people, perhaps].
"In some cases, judges have granted the requests without requiring the government to demonstrate that there is probable cause to believe that a crime is taking place or that the inquiry will yield evidence of a crime....
"Such requests run counter to the Justice Department's internal recommendation that federal prosecutors seek warrants based on probable cause to obtain precise location data in private areas. The requests and orders are sealed at the government's request...."
"'Most people don't realize it, but they're carrying a tracking device in their pocket,' said Kevin Bankston of the privacy advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation. 'Cellphones can reveal very precise information about your location, and yet legal protections are very much up in the air.'" (Washington Post)
Many Americans don't care whether some bored Justice Department agent knows if they're at a shopping mall (or even a porn shop), but consider the potential for abuse.
Let's say that a happily married Senator named John Doe, Jr. -- who'd dutifully exposed FBI abuses last year -- pays perfectly innocent, monthly visits to an old family friend named Mary. A politically motivated FBI agent who'd been tracking Mr. Doe through questionably obtained warrants might believe that Doe is at Mary's house for reasons that would make Newt Gingrich publicly gasp ( privately Newt would probably grin and think, "Been there, buddy").
To give Sen. Doe some payback, the disgruntled FBI agent could arrange for Doe's location to be leaked to the press and add some innuendo. Given th speed of electronic communication, how long would it take for a photographer to end up outside Mary's house, waiting to snap a candid shot of Sen. Doe leaving?
In the court of public opinion, even a headline that falsely linked Sen. Doe to marital infidelity would send his approval ratings south -- especially just before an election.
It's not completely far fetched. Associates of President Nixon broke into a psychiatrist's office looking for dirt on Daniel Ellsberg, who had leaked the Pentagon Papers to the press. They were merely looking for dirt, so they could discredit Ellsberg (CNN).
More recently, White House officials apparently leaked to the press ex-CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson's s identity -- thus, jeopardizing her family's safety. Why? Because Valerie's husband wrote a New York Times op-ed in 2003 suggesting that the Bush Administration had manipulated intelligence about Saddam Hussein's weapons programs to falsely justify invading Iraq. Apparently, endangering the Wilson family was simple payback.
Checks and balances exist for good reason: to prevent officials from abusing power, breaking laws, and wrongly hurting people. Relaxing the checks and balances (as some judges seem to be doing with the cell-phone-tracking warrants) is like putting tools in the hands of officials that may have corrupt motives.
If Lady Irony feels generous, they erosion of checks and balances will come back and bite some of the very people responsible for the erosion. But how many people will unjustly suffer before that happens?
See other bloggers' reactions at Memeorandum: At-Largely, Macsmind, The Gun Toting Liberal™, Bark Bark Woof Woof, PoliBlog (TM), The Next Hurrah, Prairie Weather and The Atlantic Online
Related BN-Politics' Posts:
* Watergate Overview
* Connecting Some Domestic-Spying Dots
* FBI Made Hundreds of Data-Mining Errors
* Outrage Brews: Ex-White House Aide Admits to Lying about Plame Case
* Cheney's Bizarre Defense of Libby and the Plame Outing
* Conservative Andrew Sullivan on the Libby Pardon
* Domestic Spying & Telecom Amnesty: the Bigger Issues
* Domestic Spying Started Before 9/11, and Money Changed Hands
* Why Not Give Back Mr. Rove's Dignity
* U.S. Intel Chief Made False Statements re: Domestic Spying
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