Big brother is coming

"Big brother" is just around the corner -- and most Americans probably will either welcome or accept it.

The FBI is planning on a billion-dollar computer system that will track the "biometrics" of individuals. Not just fingerprints, but palm prints, eyeprints, DNA, computerized facial recognition systems and even the unique way each person walks (so they can identify you walking down the street). It's all part of a massive program to fight terrorists, but almost all of the data will actually be about average Americans.

Combined with the domestic surveillance allowed by the Patriot Act and the Foreign Intelligence Security Act, which allows the government to open your mail, tap your phones and monitor your e-mails (sometimes even without a court order), there isn't much left in the way of privacy.

As a result of the culture of fear created by the Bush administration, most Americans are not objecting to these controls, failing to consider that when governments are given these powers, historically, they are more often used against their own citizens -- often for political reasons -- than they are against foreign agents.

Thus does the wave of the future come lapping at our feet.

When Americans are more concerned with security than freedom, the very foundation of this country is threatened.

We would hope that the new Congress and president elected this year take a serious look at these measures, and adopt a clear policy on what the rights of privacy for Americans are, so we can know what to expect from our benevolent big brother, the federal government. We need to redefine, and perhaps even place in the Constitution, a clear definition of what we expect in terms of our rights to privacy.

And we need to do it before it becomes way too late.

-- Kelly Everitt