FC: Privacy as general-purpose bludgeon: Ditch the draft!

[Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>]

[This is a fascinating trend: Groups using privacy as a general-purpose 
bludgeon against government data collection. This is not a criticism of 
Rep. Paul's bill -- he makes reasonable arguments -- but I doubt you'd see 
privacy being used in "Dear Colleague" letters as the primary reason to 
eliminate Selective Service, say, a decade ago. --Declan]

---

From: "Singleton, Norman" <Norman.Singleton@mail.house.gov>
To: declan@well.com
Date: Thu, 10 May 2001 18:08:49 -0400

It was good to see you today. here is the letter explaining why selective
service is a privacy issue that Congressman Paul sent to Congressman who
have supported his privacy legislation:

Thank you for all your efforts to defend personal privacy from the
intrusions of the federal government. I am writing today to request
that you cosponsor HR 1597, which repeals the Selective Service
System. Selective Service violates individual privacy by sharing
information with other government agencies. Selective Service
currently shares information with the IRS, the Department of
Education, the Department of Defense, Department of Transportation,
Department of Justice, FBI, INS, Department of State, Office of
Veterans's Reemployment Program, the Department of Labor, and state
and local governments. Certain Selective Service information is
also available to the general public. Selective Service also shares
data with the Health and Human Services' new hires database --
including Social Security numbers!

Selective Service is now encouraging state governments to pass laws
authorizing the automatic transfer of information to the Selective
Service System from applications for a driver's license, permit, or
similar form of identification. This proposal is close to being
implemented in almost thirty states. Sharing drivers' license
information with the federal government for any reason sets a
dangerous precedent for the future collection of personal
information by the federal government from state governments and
private parties to monitor citizens compliance with federal
mandates.

Selective Service is currently "upgrading and modernizing" their
system and is increasingly relying using on-line registration and
verification. This facilitates the sharing of information with
other agencies and increase the vulnerability of Selective Service
records to hackers and identity thieves!

According to a Department of Defense report, Selective Service
registration could be stopped "with no effect on military
mobilization and no measurable effect on the time it would take to
mobilize, and no measurable effect on military recruitment."
Clearly, Selective Service serves no purpose except to expand the
surveillance state and violate the constitutional rights of every
young American male. Please help end this outdated and
unconstitutional program; call Norm at 5-2831 and cosponsor HR
1597.  Thank you in advance for your support.

---

 > May 14, 2001
 >
 >
 > Dear liberty activist,
 >
 > Congressman Ron Paul, the founder and honorary chairman of The Liberty
 > Committee, will be a guest on "Hannity & Colmes" tonight.  The subject
will
 > be Dr. Paul's effort to repeal the 16th Amendment.  The program will begin
 > at 9:00 p.m. ET on the Fox News network.
 >
 > Millions of us protest the federal income tax either as individuals or
 > through one of the dozens of liberty-seeking organizations established to
 > explain one or another of the reasons why the illegitimate tax monster
must
 > be slain.  Unfortunately, the bureaucrats and entrenched institutions that
 > feed off the federal income-tax scheme have been able to ignore our
 > complaints, because we have not been able to overwhelm them with our
 > demands.  They've been able to ignore us because, even though we number in
 > the millions, we have never spoken as one, with one voice in one place and
 > with one objective.
 >
 > We now have that opportunity with H.J. Res. 45 -- The Liberty Amendment
 > which, if we do our jobs, will repeal the 16th Amendment.
 >
 > It is vitally important that you join with us to petition the leaders of
the
 > U.S. House to lead their members to pass H.J. Res. 45.  Please add your
name
 > to the "Repeal 16 Petition" by going to
 > http://www.thelibertycommittee.org/repeal16petition.htm .
 >
 > But if that is all you do, we will fail.  You must turn to family, to
 > friends, to your organizations and persuade those who will listen to
ignore
 > any petty differences and unite with you behind this single effort.  By
 > working together to pass H.J. Res. 45 we will have the strength to repeal
 > the 16th Amendment.
 >
 > H.J. Res. 45 -- The Liberty Amendment is not an academic exercise.  It is
 > not a political statement or an abstract ideal.  It is real legislation
 > before the U.S. House of Representatives today.  It can become law if
every
 > liberty-minded American comes together.  Add your name to the "Repeal 16
 > Petition" by going to
 > http://www.thelibertycommittee.org/repeal16petition.htm .
 >
 > Please tell your family and friends about the program tonight and ask them
 > to add their names to the "Repeal 16 Petition."
 >
 >
 > Kent Snyder
 > The Liberty Committee
 > http://www.thelibertycommittee.org
 >




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