The beginnings of a police state

Imagine living in a country, perhaps in the Third World, where the police were given sweeping new powers.\nThe police could enter your house and search it without ever telling you they had been there. They could tell a judge that tapping your telephone is part of an investigation into terrorism -- simply tell him or her that, not give any other proof -- and be given a warrant to tap your phone. \nBut this government is efficient; that wiretap will move with you to whatever phone you may use. Your cell phone. Your work phone. The pay phone down the street.\nThis new government would be able to compel any business or public agency to turn over personal records on any individual, simply by telling a judge that the person is part of an investigation of terrorism. Not that it suspects him or her of terrorism, but that his neighbor, or perhaps one of his employees, is under investigation. Again, no proof required. \nIf a friend of yours is accused of terrorism and had been seen going into a library where you hold a library card, this police agency could obtain a list of what you had been reading on the off chance that he had borrowed your card. They could go to a hospital and demand your medical records.\nThe police would be able to monitor your Internet activity with permission of the person who owns the computer. If you were to use a computer owned by the university you attend, the federal government could easily get permission to monitor your Internet activity.\nSuppose, now, that you are an immigrant to this country. These new police powers would allow the government to hold you for up to seven days without charging you with a crime, without allowing you to consult with an attorney and without being told why you\'re in jail. The only grounds required to jail you under these conditions would be "suspicion." Suppose you had donated money to an organization, perhaps a political organization in your homeland, that the government later classifies as a terrorist group. To avoid deportation, you would have to prove that you did not know the money could be used to support terrorism. \nIt's pretty difficult to prove that you didn't know something. \nBut, you say, this is irrelevant to me because I live in the United States of America, a great bastion of freedom. If you want a shock, look up H.R. 3162, a bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate last week. President George W. Bush signed it into law Friday.\nEverything I just described is now legal in the United States of America.\nStarting to feel a little nervous? I know that I am.