NP? Vineland echo

[Doug Millison]

http://www.commondreams.org/news2002/0806-03.htm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AUGUST 6, 2002
11:04 AM
	CONTACT:  American Civil Liberties Union
Rachel King


In Surreal Development, Bush Administration Routes
TIPS Calls to TV Show "America's Most Wanted" 

  
WASHINGTON - August 6 - In a development bordering on
what the American Civil Liberties Union called
"surreal," the on-line magazine Salon.com today
revealed that the Department of Justice is forwarding
incoming Operation TIPS calls to the Fox-owned
"America's Most Wanted" television series.

"This is like retaining Arthur Andersen to do all of
the SEC's accounting," said Rachel King, an ACLU
Legislative Counsel. "It's a completely inappropriate
and frightening intermingling of government power and
the private sector. What's next - the government hires
Candid Camera to do its video surveillance?"

"If it continues to cooperate with the government on
Operation TIPS, America's Most Wanted should move
networks and rename itself 'Big Brother,'" King said.

The author of the Salon article, David Lindorff,
reportedly signed up for TIPS more than a month ago,
heard nothing and followed up last week with a phone
call to the Department of Justice, the agency
responsible for overseeing the proposed program. The
department gave Lindorff another phone number, which
it said had been set up by the FBI. When he dialed
that number, Lindorff was greeted by a receptionist
for "America's Most Wanted," which features
reenactments of unsolved crimes and then asks the
public to phone in leads and tips. 

Shocked that the number did not connect to the FBI,
Lindorff was told, "We've been asked to take the FBI's
TIPS calls for them." The ACLU today said that, not
only does the Operation TIPS program on its own pose
serious threats to the American ideal that neighbors
not be expected to inform on neighbors, but the
program, when coupled with the power and profit
incentives of television, could enhance its
resemblance to Big Brother through sensationalism and
the thirst for advertising revenue.

Even before its partnering with Fox Television, the
Operation TIPS program has come under a barrage of
criticism from both the left and the right. House
Majority Leader Richard Armey (R-TX), one of the most
powerful and conservative members of Congress,
introduced a measure in his chamber's version of the
Homeland Security legislation that would prohibit the
implementation of TIPS and other similar measures.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), chairman of the Senate
Judiciary Committee, has also opposed the proposal,
saying "We could be vigilant, but we don't want to be
vigilantes." 

"Why stop with America's Most Wanted?" King added. "If
a sensational story is what it was looking for, the
Department of Justice should have just hired Jerry
Springer as its public information officer." 

The Salon article can be found on-line at:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2002/08/06/tips/index_np.html


"Madre de Dios!" an oddly panicked, high-pitched
Hector was up and running for the kitchen -- luckily,
Zoyd noted, having left a twenty on the table -- now
with a platoon of folks come crashing in after him,
what _was_ this, all wearing identical camo jumpsuits
and crash helmets with the word NEVER stenciled on.
Two stayed by th door, two more went over to check the
bowling alley, the rest went runnin on after Hector
into the kitchen, where there was already a lot of
screaming and clanging."  (Vineland, 32-33)




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