White House refuses to talk about Al Gore’s plan to Wiretap every electronic device in the world

Q Scott, I have a two-part question. Apparently, no one in the White House will challenge Al Gore with now public information that he led the Clinton administration's Clipper Chip Project back in the 1990s to effectively tap every phone, fax machine and computer in the country. And my question: Isn't that worth pointing out to the American people, after he accused President Bush of breaking the law and violating the Constitution by --

MR. McCLELLAN: I think you just did. This is an administration that is forward-looking, Les. We're focused on the priorities of the American people.

Q Well, how about Gore? You mean you're going to say nothing about Gore and the clipper chip project?

"West Wing" ratings are cratering, hire C. J. Cregg, or better, her writers off the show. This is getting absurd. Echelon has been in the public since 1988 at the latest. Actually, had Gore not made noise in public about it, Clipper Chip may have quietly become a reality. I strongly suspect other, more troublesome ways have been found to get the same result or the intel people would still be pushing for it. I don't claim to really understand the math, but I'm not willing to put total faith in 128 bit encryption.

My libertarian soul objects, but reality, I have assumed since as early as the drug war runs around the Fourth and Fifth Amendments that any electronic communication could be being overheard. Can't think of much in the way of threats to national security such an effort would have uncovered by listening to me. I guess if I were having an affair with the wife of someone in NSA, I'd stay off the phone about it.

It has always struck me as naive to assume any government with the tech capability to listen would not use it. I guess McClellan is doing what he is told, but Bush really needs to hit back on this.

Let's also not forget that, during Clinton's administration (1999), the FDIC tried to start a "Know-Your-Customer" law by which banks would be required to profile all their customers' checkwriting, deposit and withdrawal patterns without so much as any suspicion of criminal activity by the customer.

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