In 1968, I graduated from Marin's own San Francisco Theological Seminary. Choosing--wisely as it happened--not to look for a position as a pastor of a local church, The Presbyterian church sent me to further schooling in community organizing and in urban studies, then sent me to Brazil as a "fraternal worker." My job was to help the city administration of Brasilia work with churches and other groups to "humanize" the city. Brasilia was a new city designed by an architect, not a city planner and was badly in need of amenities for real humans. The city administrators were aware of this and eager to get whatever help they could. I was also tasked with being the protestant chaplain at the University of Brasilia.
Brazil had been under military control for years, but the military had still allowed the civilians to administer the government and as long as they didn't rock the boat for the wealthy elites--at least not much--their was at least the patina of civilian government. Three months after my arrival in Brazil, the military published a decree that established absolute control. In one day, they invaded the campus of the university, imprisoned many of the student body leadership and arrested others. At the same time, the suspended parliament, arrested opposition leaders and hunted down other opposition legislators. (In fact the brother of my supervisor, a Brazilian, was among these and eventually was caught and killed.) My work in Brasilia ended with the publication of this decree.
Prior to the decree however, I became friends with a Brazilian who was himself friends with the head of the central government computer system. I was shown row upon row of IBM punch card machines that were used to track every person who carried an identity card. That card was needed to stay in a hotel, visit any government office, take a class at the university--or any school-- or take any other significant action. It was particularly explained to me that it was one way they were able to track "subversives." They could know when any group visited a city for a meeting.
Eventually, after the military decree, I moved to Sao Paulo and began working with a program of literacy training. There were several Dominican priests who were part of the school as well as many other lay people who had been trained by Paulo Freire, the great pioneer in literacy work. Before I left Brazil, several of my colleagues and friends had been tortured and/or murdered by the military. The ability of those computers to enhance surveilance contributed to this military dictatorship.
Today, the computer systems have become orders of magnitude more powerful. Cameras are now small enough to fit in a button-hole. Electronic eavesdropping is now a simple matter and the equipment not even very costly. Every government and every corporate entity seems to believe that it has the right to spy on its customers, workers, citizens whether on private or public property. With the advent of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Devices), the contents of your life are available to anyone who has a scanner and can come within several feet of you. Watch such popular television programs as NCIS, CSI, and other crime programs and be amazed at how much surveilance contributes to the solutions. Fortunately we are not yet at the level envisaged by these programs--but not far from it.
I am greatly troubled by this. The misnamed Patriot act was not the first incursion into our civil liberties, our privacy and our freedoms, but it is also not the last.
The Surveillance Society will set back the cause of freedom if we let it happen--and we are already letting it happen. Only the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union and a few other organizations are all that stand in the way.
But it is not government alone which rushes ahead to 1984. Almost every large corporation claims the right to spy on its employees, customers and the general public. There are surveilance cameras everywhere. Many companies had such cameras even in the restrooms until they were sued by employees. Clothing stores claim the right to put cameras in the dressing rooms and, if not challenged, they do so. Telephone companies record your interactions with their employees; even though they tell you that ahead of time, and thus make it legal, you cannot object as they will then not serve you. When I tried to order Dish Network, they insisted that I provide them with my social security number. (Of course, if I am making a loan for a new car, it makes sense that the lender run a credit check, but for a service that can be cut off if I don't pay, there is no justification.
One of the joys of being a citizen of the United States is my claim to freedom, liberty and privacy. We must not let these go without a fight.
Brazil had been under military control for years, but the military had still allowed the civilians to administer the government and as long as they didn't rock the boat for the wealthy elites--at least not much--their was at least the patina of civilian government. Three months after my arrival in Brazil, the military published a decree that established absolute control. In one day, they invaded the campus of the university, imprisoned many of the student body leadership and arrested others. At the same time, the suspended parliament, arrested opposition leaders and hunted down other opposition legislators. (In fact the brother of my supervisor, a Brazilian, was among these and eventually was caught and killed.) My work in Brasilia ended with the publication of this decree.
Prior to the decree however, I became friends with a Brazilian who was himself friends with the head of the central government computer system. I was shown row upon row of IBM punch card machines that were used to track every person who carried an identity card. That card was needed to stay in a hotel, visit any government office, take a class at the university--or any school-- or take any other significant action. It was particularly explained to me that it was one way they were able to track "subversives." They could know when any group visited a city for a meeting.
Eventually, after the military decree, I moved to Sao Paulo and began working with a program of literacy training. There were several Dominican priests who were part of the school as well as many other lay people who had been trained by Paulo Freire, the great pioneer in literacy work. Before I left Brazil, several of my colleagues and friends had been tortured and/or murdered by the military. The ability of those computers to enhance surveilance contributed to this military dictatorship.
Today, the computer systems have become orders of magnitude more powerful. Cameras are now small enough to fit in a button-hole. Electronic eavesdropping is now a simple matter and the equipment not even very costly. Every government and every corporate entity seems to believe that it has the right to spy on its customers, workers, citizens whether on private or public property. With the advent of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Devices), the contents of your life are available to anyone who has a scanner and can come within several feet of you. Watch such popular television programs as NCIS, CSI, and other crime programs and be amazed at how much surveilance contributes to the solutions. Fortunately we are not yet at the level envisaged by these programs--but not far from it.
I am greatly troubled by this. The misnamed Patriot act was not the first incursion into our civil liberties, our privacy and our freedoms, but it is also not the last.
The Surveillance Society will set back the cause of freedom if we let it happen--and we are already letting it happen. Only the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union and a few other organizations are all that stand in the way.
But it is not government alone which rushes ahead to 1984. Almost every large corporation claims the right to spy on its employees, customers and the general public. There are surveilance cameras everywhere. Many companies had such cameras even in the restrooms until they were sued by employees. Clothing stores claim the right to put cameras in the dressing rooms and, if not challenged, they do so. Telephone companies record your interactions with their employees; even though they tell you that ahead of time, and thus make it legal, you cannot object as they will then not serve you. When I tried to order Dish Network, they insisted that I provide them with my social security number. (Of course, if I am making a loan for a new car, it makes sense that the lender run a credit check, but for a service that can be cut off if I don't pay, there is no justification.
One of the joys of being a citizen of the United States is my claim to freedom, liberty and privacy. We must not let these go without a fight.
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