[FYI] (Fwd) FC: Conservative group lobbies for snooping on U.S. mail

["Axel H Horns" <horns@ipjur.com>]

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent:      	Thu, 28 Sep 2000 10:31:12 -0400
To:             	politech@politechbot.com
From:           	Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
Subject:        	FC: Conservative group lobbies for snooping on U.S. mail
Send reply to:  	declan@well.com



http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=00/09/28/0558214&mode=thread

    Conservative Group Lobbies for U.S. Mail Snooping
    posted by cicero on Thursday September 28, @12:43AM
    from the guess-we-know-what-their-priorities-are dept.

    The conservative group Americans for Tax Reform is lobbying to
    expand federal snooping of the U.S. mail. ATR Vice President
    Michael Kamburowski this week dashed off a letter to Capitol Hill
    complaining that the "U.S. Customs Service has been prevented from
    inspecting all outbound mail sent through the U.S. Postal
    Service," and urging that legislators support a new bill that
    would expand government surveillance of letters and packages. The
    justification: Shipments of illegal drugs. Kamburowski even quoted
    from a popular marijuana seed web site, which advises customers to
    avoid "UPS, Federal Express, or any other overnight express
    service" and use the post office instead. The bill was introduced
    this week by Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL). It's an odd stance for
    ATR, a group headed by Republican Party icon Grover Norquist, to
    take -- they've been staunch advocates of privacy-protecting
    encryption products in the past and ostensibly oppose intrusive
    government. Guess fighting that ol'War on Drugs is just more
    important. (See below for ATR's email messages.)

The email messages from ATR:
http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=00/09/28/0558214&mode=thread




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