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4A Daily News – Saturday, April 21, 2012 Opinion DAILYNEWS RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Greg Stevens, Publisher gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com Chip Thompson, Editor editor@redbluffdailynews.com Editorial policy The Daily News opinion is expressed in the editorial. The opinions expressed in columns, letters and cartoons are those of the authors and artists. Letter policy The Daily News welcomes let- ters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All let- ters must be signed and pro- vide the writer's home street address and home phone num- ber. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and cannot exceed two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section of those submit- ted will be considered for publi- cation. Letters will be edited. Letters are published at the discretion of the editor. 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Fax (415) 393-0710. Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (510) 286-8537. Fax (202) 224- 0454. Peek-a-boo, I see you Commentary moved here from the Bay Area almost 40 years ago that there are no secrets in Red Bluff. These days it seems there are few secrets left in the entire world. There has been much in the news lately, both here, in Great Britain and around the world, about privacy issues. It seems like the world is becom- ing one big open microphone that is always on, always broad- casting. We learned early on when we me like the ongoing saga of the Murdoch news group's eaves- dropping, phone hacking, and payoff of law enforcement offi- cials has triggered a public con- cern about the limits of privacy. The concern is worldwide. In China a prominent dissi- I'm not sure, but it seems to to prevent prison guards from being charged with some kind of sexual assault. We are not sure what happened to women who failed the test. dent was released from jail, but was constantly hounded by the government hoodlums, who were both spying on him and harassing him. He turned the tables on them and installed webcams in his house so the whole of cyberspace could spy on their invasions of his privacy. Chinese officials were not happy with his maneuver. Joel Brinkley has reported that the Chinese city of Chongqing is planning to install 500,000 surveillance cameras to deal with monitoring so-called mass incidents. (We would call these major protests.) There were 180,000 mass incidents in China in 2011. Chongqing has a population of approximately 7,000,000; that would mean one camera for each 14 inhabitants. (The entire province of Chongqing is about 28,000,000; even using this as a base, the average would be one camera per 56 inhabitants.) In Egypt women prisoners have been subject to a virginity check until recently. This was claimed to be necessary in order In England controversial new British legislation could allow the UK's electronics intelligence agency, GCHQ, access in real- time data of phone calls, emails, social networks, and Web traffic by all UK residents, apparently with or without probable cause. There is sure to be a backlash from the European Union about this plan. According to Zack Whittaker of London Calling, "The UK is already the most surveilled country in the world, with number plate recognition systems, ISP deep-packet inspection, and a surveillance camera seemingly on every cor- ner. These proposals would pro- pel the UK into the lacking pri- vacy realms of China, Burma, and Russia." Instead of "God save the Queen", Brits will be quoting famed English author George Orwell, "Big Brother is watching." In the United States there has been lot of discussion and argu- ment about just who can have access to our cell phone records and under what circumstances. Some of the rationale for and against open access revolves around the Fourth Amendment of our Constitution: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreason- able searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." The Fourteenth Amendment is also quoted by those con- cerned with cell phone privacy. It reads in part: "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or proper- ty, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its juris- diction the equal pro- tection of the laws." Californians became concerned when the California Supreme Court ruled in 2011 that police can search the cell phone of a per- son who's been arrested -- including text mes- sages -- without obtaining a war- rant, and use that data as evi- dence. The case was interesting because the Court did not cite any particular circumstance that allowed the officers to seize the phone and its records. because of a Face Book image posted while on a European vacation. Joe Harrop In a dissent to the Court's opinion California Supreme Court Justice Kathryn Werdegar wrote, "The majority's holding ... (grants) police carte blanche, with no showing of exigency, to rummage at leisure through the wealth of personal and business information that can be carried on a mobile phone or handheld computer merely because the device was taken from an arrestee's person…. The majori- ty thus sanctions a highly intru- sive and unjustified type of search, one meeting neither the warrant requirement nor the rea- sonableness requirement of the Fourth Amendment to the Unit- ed States Constitution." Employers have been asking employees and job applicants for the password to their Face Book account; here again some- thing someone wanted to reveal to his/her "friends" could be put to an unintended use. One teacher in Georgia was fired ject to the search under the Court ruling as a hardened crim- inal with a long record of vio- lence. I am not sure where rea- sonableness leaves off and need for safety begins, but the lines are clearly blurred. In his book, 1984, George Orwell wrote, "It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anx- iety, a habit of muttering to yourself--anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnor- mality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face...; was itself a punishable offense. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: face- crime..." I am not an alarmist, but I do feel we have to be careful when privacy becomes less and less private. Joe Harrop is a retired educator with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHarrop@sbcglobal.net. Most recently the United States Supreme Court ruled that anyone taken to jail can be subject to a strip search. The rationale makes sense on the one hand because of the need to make sure our law enforcement officials are safe. On the other hand a person brought to jail for a simple minor crime, and who has no previous record, is just as sub- Editor: Hey, Red Bluff. It's just a matter of time until we get a Superstore. Superstore The people of Walmart are wealthy and patient. Be pre- pared to see a large gray build- ing sitting vacant. It will be available for a large thrift store. Sam Collins, Red Bluff PATH thanks PATH workers and church orga- nizations for what they did for the homeless this year. I wish I had some way to give back for all they have done. The city of Red Bluff needs to do something to help build a place year-round for people. It would help stop the people from hanging out in front of businesses, which isn't good for the businesses or for the people. Editor; I would like to thank all the Craig Coon, Red Bluff ID OK Editor: fight identification cards for vot- ing? Why are they so against Arizona for instance having peo- ple show ID? Well, we know the answer to that one, don't we? They have no intention of doing anything to anyone who will vote for their candidate. I hope it won't work this year like the last presidential election. Today, shopping at the Shasta Outlets, I had to show my ID. JC Penney always ask for ID. Occa- sionally now and again, other stores will ask for ID. I always thank them. Why? Because I think it's a good idea. It protects me and the store too. I had a blood test and had to show ID. A woman called into the talk show saying she had to show her insurance card and ID for her mammogram. There's nothing wrong with this, but nothing is done about it year after year. Do we want to clean up fraud and Why do so many in congress would help prevent all the fraud that goes on in elections. Where are the laws and safeguards to protect against voter fraud? Peo- ple can vote more than once, even dead people vote because of the loose and shifty way the elections are run. Also, why is every state so different in how their elections are handled? Why is everything so complicated? It just makes it easier to manipu- late the voting. Often they find votes in trunks, they were never turned it. It's wonderful living in a free country, but they go too corruption or not? Where's all that Hope and Change that was promised us? Just a lot of words over and over, doesn't mean a thing. When you fly, you have to show ID. Do the illegals have to show ID when they fly? Or are they exempted because of their nationality? Do only Americans have to prove who we are? Isn't that a form of pro- filing? Voters showing ID far trying to protect some. It hurts everything else and they're too ignorant to know it. Identification should always Your Turn be asked for when voting. With the election on the horizon, something should be passed now. I can't even believe what is hap- pening anymore. All on purpose I'm sure. Ann Romney's attack was right on cue. More dirty poli- tics. It's disgusting at what lengths they go to. Where did integrity go? I must have been asleep because I have never seen such tripe. Herman Cain for example. What happened to Gloria Allred's lawsuit. They just wanted to get rid of him. I'll be so glad when this elec- tion is over. The process takes much too long. How did that happen? Was it always that way? I don't remember it being so. Bernice Cressy, Cottonwood