BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU!

George Orwell is indeed a genius. Nineteen Eighty-Four is a reality nowadays - not much of a sci fi or distant dystopia anymore. Bush just signs U.S. spy bill, draws lawsuit, and Obama votes for the overall bill too. As days go by, the true face of Obama slowly emerges.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush signed a law on Thursday overhauling rules for eavesdropping on terrorism suspects but immediately faced a civil liberties challenge calling it a threat to Americans' privacy.

"This law will protect the liberties of our citizens while maintaining the vital flow of intelligence," Bush said at a White House ceremony to mark a rare legislative victory for the president during his last year in office.

The bill authorizes U.S. intelligence agencies to eavesdrop without court approval on foreign targets believed to be outside the United States.

However, it is comforting to know that there are still Winstons and Julias out there, fighting for their rights.

The American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and others immediately filed suit in Manhattan federal court and called for the law to be voided.

"The lawsuit asks the court to stop the government from enforcing the new unconstitutional wiretapping law, which will give the Bush administration unfettered power to spy on Americans without warrants or judicial oversight," the group said.

The most contentious issue was a provision that grants liability protection to telecommunication companies that took part in a warrantless domestic spying program Bush began after the Sept. 11 attacks. The measure shields those firms from potentially billions of dollars in damages from privacy lawsuits.

ACLU President Anthony Romero, in a fundraising letter to supporters, said the provision means "your phone calls can be tapped and e-mails read with virtually no proof of threat, and there's no chance to learn how the telecoms invaded your privacy."

Here is what the two-face (perhaps O'brien) has to say:

"Given the choice between voting for an improved yet imperfect bill, and losing important surveillance tools, I've chosen to support the current compromise," Obama said on his campaign Web site.

If you do no wrong, then there is nothing to hide. Let the paranoids indulge in their unrelenting paranoia...

(source: the star online)