Howard Dean and Privacy

Last week I saw Howard Dean on The Daily Show and he was in full bluster mode about the Bush administration and the NSA allegedly violating the privacy of US citizens with their collection of call record databases. Dean would have you believe that he and the Democratic Party would best protect the privacy of the average American. The truth is the exact opposite.

Howard Dean was successful in getting lots of cyber donations in his run for the Presidency in 2004. What he was not successful in doing is protecting the privacy of his donors. The personal information of his donors was kept in a non-secure file that could be accessed via the Internet. Strangely enough the personal information of his donors somehow wound up with the Kerry Campaign. We have to take the word of his staff that the information was not sold to the Kerry Campaign.

Howard Dean couldn't even protect the privacy of his campaign donors and yet he would have you take it on trust that he could protect the privacy of the entire country.

If that isn't bad enough - consider some of Dean's views on national ID cards and smart cards. While Governor of Vermont - Dean was in favor of an ID required just to use your computer.

Dean also suggested that computer makers such as Apple Computer, Dell, Gateway and Sony should be required to include an ID card reader in PCs--and Americans would have to insert their uniform IDs into the reader before they could log on. "One state's smart-card driver's license must be identifiable by another state's card reader," Dean said. "It must also be easily commercialized by the private sector and included in all PCs over time--making the Internet safer and more secure."

And just think of the database the government would then have on your PC use. Would you trust Howard Dean with that information?