DoD monkeys around with college students
EPIC has some documents obtained using FOIO that confirms that the Defense Department is monitoring the email of college students protesting the military on campus. The military used the TALON system, supposedly designed to track terrorists by databasing unsubstantiated rumours, to follow the students after receipt of several emails revealing the protest plans. The students were protesting military oncampus recruitment as well as the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy in which the military will process avowed homosexuals for discharge.
This is pretty scary for a couple of reasons. One is that I thought that we as a nation were past this "spy on the college kids" stuff in the 60s and 70s. Apparently not. The second reason is worse and one that I've been worried about for five years--that the massive monitoring capablities given to the Bush administration and their flying monkeys will be used for other purposes than just following terrorists. It's a very small stretch to direct a domestic espionage monitoring and/or tracking program against anyone, after all, who is a preterrorist, anyway? If antiwar, antimilitary or even antibush protests are now falling within the confines of antiterrorism, then it's time for some scrutiny on how these tools are being used.
Posted on July 14, 2006
