Is the U.S. Turning Into a Surveillance Society?
American Civil Liberties Union 2005 Big Brother is now a realistic possibility The United States has now reached the point where a total surveillance society has become a realistic possibility, the American Civil Liberties Union warns in a new report. Many people still do not grasp that Big Brother surveillance is no longer the stuff of books and movies, said Barry Steinhardt, Director of the ACLUs Technology and Liberty Program and a co-author of the report. Given the capabilities of todays technology, the only thing protecting us from a full-fledged surveillance society are the legal and political institutions we have inherited as Americans, he added. Unfortunately, the September 11 attacks have led some to embrace the fallacy that weakening the Constitution will strengthen America. The ACLU said that its report, Bigger Monster, Weaker Chains: The Growth of an American Surveillance Society, is an attempt to step back from the daily march of stories about new surveillance programs and
