Privacy Top Issue For New Congress

By REP RON PAUL

The last several years have seen a dramatic rise in attempts by

the government to claim greater privileges in violating the privacy

of citizens.

For a Republican member of Congress like me, it would be to

claim these incidents were all being perpetrated by the "liberal

Democrats." While Clinton s Administration has indeed been at the

front of the charge to increase the government s ability to pry

into our personal affairs and monitor our movements, he has had

many willing allies in the so-called "conservative" camp.

From a national database containing the private medical history of

every American to a national ID card and broad new authority to the

FBI in wiretapping, many on both sides of the political aisle have

been working to erode our privacy.

This past year saw minor victories for those wanting to turn

back this trend toward a more intrusive government. We succeeded in

forestalling implementation of the national medical database and

the national ID for one calendar year.

Under the guise of "preventing fraud," the medical database

would require every aspect of an individual s medical history be

linked to-gether and easily accessible to go-vernment officials and

researchers. And what is accessible to government officials and re-

searchers for "good" purposes is also accessible to computer hack-

ers.

Companies would pay for "illegal" information on your medical

history, to determine the risk you pose to their benefits package.

Or, a political opponent brings up an embarrassing tidbit from your

medical past. The possibilities are endless, including the

likelihood patients will stop confiding in their doctors if it is

possible that those remarks could be transcribed into a computer

database.

Of course the solution is to exclude government from its uncon-

stitutional role as health care provider.

A national ID poses no less serious a threat. Under 1996 legisla-

tion authorizing the creation of this new monstrosity, no American

can travel by air between the states or internationally without a

national ID card after October 1, 2000. Doctors will be required to

see the ID before offering care, and no one will receive federal

benefits without their card.

Why does the government need to know our every move? The answer

is always "fighting crime." But at what point does the "fighting"

of crime become itself a crime?

We were unsuccessful in stopping the Administration from imple-

menting "roaming wiretaps." Until now the FBI or other agency

could only tap those phone lines approved by a court once probable

cause has been shown. While some, including me, believe the

courts have been far too liberal in allowing taps at least there

has been acknowledgement that violating privacy, even of someone

suspected of criminal activity, is not a trivial matter.

Now these agencies want the power to tap any phone a suspected

criminal may use.

How would this work? If someone you know is suspected by the

government of doing something criminal, and that friend comes over

for dinner, the FBI wants the authority to tap your line without a

court order -- just in case the suspect uses your phone.

How long would the tap be in place? What if they heard something

they would not otherwise hear (say, you and your brother-in-law in

another state making a dollar bet on a college football game)?

Benjamin Franklin once wrote that those who give up liberty for

temporary security deserve neither liberty nor security. The ap-

plication of this quote to the privacy issue is unmistakable. We

have become so consumed with "fighting crime" that many are willing

to give up their liberties, those precious gifts of our creator se-

cured by the blood of soldiers, for the illusion of eliminating

criminal behavior.

Criminal law enforcement is reserved to state and local govern-

ments by the Constitution s Tenth Amendment.

We must jealously guard our constitutional rights and American

heritage of liberty. To assume we can at the same time be a nation

of liberty and have a government which monitors our every move and

word is foolishly inconsistent.

The restoration and protection of personal privacy is, and will

remain, a key issue for 1999, for the 106th Congress, and for our

nation.