American Stasi: Part 2

[x-posted at Daily Kos]

In my post, American Stasi, I noted the case of an ISP owner who the FBI attempted to force to spy on one of his customers using one of those National Security Letters whose abuse by the FBI has recently come under fire.

At the time I noted how very much this resembled the behavior of the dreaded East German secret police, the Stasi, which enlisted hundreds of thousands of citizen spies during its reign of terror.

The Isp owner was traunatized by his experience as an unwilling spy and the wall of lies his situaton built between himself and his co-workers, friends, and family.

Fortunately for the new American Stasi, there are plenty of potential volunteers. Indeed Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter's wacky soul-mate, is even starting a club for them.

Such as Malkin get no links from me, but here's the story from Chris Kelly writing at HuffingtonPost:

Most Americans just rolled over and surrendered when Arab terrorists took over the government and the media, but not Michelle Malkin.
She's fighting back. By starting a club.

All you have to do to join is report everyone you see who seems to be a foreigner. Or who seems to tolerate foreigners. Or who may be thinking foreigner-tolerating thoughts.

It's like the Junior Spies in 1984, only totally fun.

It's called The John Doe Movement and it's got an oath and everything. And if you join not only will you fight Islamofascism, but you can also come to Michelle's house after school, have a healthy snack, and play with her Breyer Horses. Well, not play with them. But, you know, look at them.

You also get a button. Wanna sign up?

Here's the pledge:

"Dear Muslim Terrorist Plotter/Planner/Funder/Enabler/Apologist,

You do not know me. But I am on the lookout for you. You are my enemy.
And I am yours.

I am John Doe.

I am traveling on your plane. I am riding on your train. I am at your bus stop. I am on your street. I am in your subway car. I am on your lift..."

(Now, I know what you're thinking: That sounds like a lot of travel. And who says "lift?" Are you Madonna? But don't get hung up on that. Let her talk.)


" ... I am your neighbor. I am your customer. I am your classmate. I am your boss."

(I am Polly Pocket.)


"...I am John Doe.

Malkin's "pledge" continues on at some length in that tenor and if you're interested please click the above link to read Mr. Kelly's full post. If you have the stomach for it he even supplies a link to Ms. Malkin's original.

I can only note with fear (and mocking) that those who wish to create an American Stasi have an able co-conspirator in Ms. Malkin and her fellow travelers.

Oh, and that ISP owner? Because of an FBI gag order, he was forced to identify himself as...John Doe.

Ah, the brave new world.

The American Stasi

You may recall that the FBI has recently been found to have abused one of its Patriot Act powers by issuing National Security Letters (essentially subpoenas but without the piddling detail of court approval) without following even the very loose requirements of the Act. Between 2003 and 2005 the FBI issued over 140,000 of them.

I'd like to highlight a fascinating letter in today's Washington Post written by a person who was issued one of those letters, someone who remains anonymous, because, like all such persons, he continues to be compelled to refrain from revealing his identity because of a gag order forbidding him to reveal any details of the situation to anybody.

Three years ago, I received a national security letter (NSL) in my capacity as the president of a small Internet access and consulting business. The letter ordered me to provide sensitive information about one of my clients. There was no indication that a judge had reviewed or approved the letter, and it turned out that none had. The letter came with a gag provision that prohibited me from telling anyone, including my client, that the FBI was seeking this information. Based on the context of the demand -- a context that the FBI still won't let me discuss publicly -- I suspected that the FBI was abusing its power and that the letter sought information to which the FBI was not entitled.

Given his doubts, Mr. Doe went to the ACLU who took up his case, with the effect that he never complied to the NSL, which, um, request, has since been dropped after all. It seems that Mr. Doe's potential information wasn't quite so vital to national security after all.

Most interesting to me are the effects of the gag order under which Mr. Doe continues to toil.

Living under the gag order has been stressful and surreal. Under the threat of criminal prosecution, I must hide all aspects of my involvement in the case -- including the mere fact that I received an NSL -- from my colleagues, my family and my friends. When I meet with my attorneys I cannot tell my girlfriend where I am going or where I have been. I hide any papers related to the case in a place where she will not look. When clients and friends ask me whether I am the one challenging the constitutionality of the NSL statute, I have no choice but to look them in the eye and lie.

I resent being conscripted as a secret informer for the government and being made to mislead those who are close to me, especially because I have doubts about the legitimacy of the underlying investigation.

In the bad old days of the cold war the East German secret police (Stasi) were infamous for their penetration into the everyday lives of their comrades.

Their effectiveness was based in large part on their use of "Unofficial collaborators", by the end of the cold war employing over 300,000 of these citizen spies.

It's not clear to me how many of these spies were willing collaborators and how many were coerced by the Stasi to co-operate.

But it is certainly a sad commentary on the present state of affairs that the FBI's behavior bears such a startling similarity to that of the dreaded Stasi.