Letter: Beware increased wiretapping

Friday, Oct. 16, 1998 | 11:48 a.m.

Eavesdropping is one of the oldest professions. In biblical days scouts were sent to the land of Canaan, better known as the Promised Land, to see what people dwelled therein. Centuries later Naziism, without conscience, was well aware of the worth of good eavesdroppers among the millions of prisoners, laborers, guards and locals on either side of the barbed wires of the hundreds of camps.

To warn the general population of the danger of any kind of the conversation the propaganda minister placed small posters with the profile of a sleuth in a trench coat and the words "Psst, the enemy is listening in" anyplace anywhere.

People were afraid of one another. There was nobody left to trust. Thanks to our faith in God the Third Reich came tumbling down. Today, only a little more than half a century later the politicians are at it again. Those who are supposed to serve us want carte blanche to listen in on our conversations.

They don't trust the ones whose sweat equity pays for their compensation and lucrative pensions. Do we really need a bill giving Big Brother the right to tap in and sting us? Next time you pick up your telephone remember "Pssst, big brother may be listening in!"

Jan Storm