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Armey, ACLU Condemn High-Tech Surveillance Efforts



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Jul 12, 2001, By Newsbytes

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Conservative House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, joined forces with the traditionally left-leaning American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to condemn the growing use of high-tech tools by law enforcement agencies to monitor ordinary people in public places.

Although Armey spokesperson Richard Diamond admitted that his boss and the ACLU make an unlikely couple, he said that their joint expression of concern should serve to highlight the danger to privacy posed by the new generation of high-tech law enforcement devices.

"The trend is disturbing," Diamond said. "The American public doesnt want big brother looking over [its] shoulder."

Although Wednesdays statement is the first time Armey and the ACLU have officially joined forces, both Armey and the ACLU separately expressed outrage earlier this month when Tampa, Fla., moved forward with a plan to use face-recognition software to scan people in a popular downtown area.

Diamond said that the Tampa initiative is simply the highest-profile example of a growing trend of law enforcement agencies misusing advanced electronic tools to invade citizens privacy.

The Armey-ACLU statement points also to a face recognition program underway in Virginia Beach, Va., and to recently passed Colorado legislation that requires the state to obtain 3-D facial maps of people who apply for licenses to drive.

Privacy advocates fear that those 3-D maps could be easily used in conjunction with face-recognition software to identify law-abiding citizens as they walk down the street, recording their movements and whereabouts.

"The general trend in public opinion is that these are advancing encroachments on our privacy," Diamond said.

Diamond said that Armey does not intend to introduce legislation aimed at curbing the use of high-tech surveillance efforts but hopes, instead, to put public pressure on states and localities that misuse such technology.

Following the nationwide media hue and cry over the Tampa program, Diamond said "The mayors and city councilors outside of Tampa will be thinking, Wow, I dont want this kind of uproar in my city. The public pressure is effective. Its just a matter of keeping it up."

Diamond said that the public outcry over the Tampa program has led at least three members of Tampa City Council to express second thoughts about the face-recognition program.

David McGuire, Newsbytes

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