Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.issues,americast.usa-today.issues From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: issues Tue, Aug 25 1992 Date: Tue, 25 Aug 92 04:24:46 EDT Message-ID: 08-25 0000 DECISIONLINE: Issues & Debate USA TODAY Update Aug. 25, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network Here are some of the issues and topics being debated across the nation Tuesday morning in USA TODAY: Wiretaps, Racism, Hurricanes. TODAY'S DEBATE - GOVERNMENT SURVEILLANCE: USA TODAY'S OPINION: As you read this, some FBI, IRS or other federal agent could be trolling through your phone records to learn who you called, when and for how long. You don't have to be a criminal. ... The Supreme Court has agreed your phone records belong to the phone company - which routinely provides tens of thousands of them to anyone with a federal subpoena. But Congress ... can do something: Tighten the standards government agents must meet to get local and toll-phone records. Those records can disclose as much as conversations and should get equal protection from casual government "fishing expeditions." They don't now. ... (The Alicia Patterson Foundation's) phone records were among those the IRS subpoenaed when trying to learn who leaked an embarrassing story to reporter Gregory Millman - even though, at the time, Millman's only contact with the group had been to call for an application. The foundation's phone network, Bell Atlantic, got 22,000 such federal orders in 1991. Pacific Bell already has received more than 12,000 this year. ... An agency need claim only that (it's) relevant to some investigation; neither judge nor grand jury reviews such claims. But to wiretap, an agency must affirm to a judge that the subject is under investigation. Then, it can record only those parts of conversations linked to the activity being probed. ... In a democracy, the focus should be protecting the rights of the majority, not nabbing a few crooks. OTHER VIEW: BRUCE FEIN, former associate deputy attorney general: Suppose the FBI suspects a Florida man of large-scale drug trafficking involving long-distance telephone contacts ... Lacking the evidence needed for a warrant to search phone company records for the suspect's calls, the FBI seeks the company's voluntary, confidential cooperation. If notified, the suspect might flee or destroy incriminating evidence. Should the law compel notice anyway, in the name of privacy? In 1979, the U.S. Supreme Court held that phone customers enjoy no constitutionally protected privacy interest in the numbers they dial. During the last 13 years, authorities have routinely relied on that to obtain confidential access to phone records for law-enforcement purposes - about 50,000 such requests annually. ... Experience since 1979 demonstrates that government access to such records has neither created a repressive atmosphere nor been abused for harassment. ... The primary beneficiary of the type of toll-record privacy law USA TODAY applauds will be miscreants who already elude the police in four of five felonies. They will exploit its notice provisions to frustrate and further slow already lead-footed justice. VOICES ACROSS THE NATION ON U.S. RACE RELATIONS: INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., Janice Sharpe, 40, commun. consultant: Basically, things are at a standstill. The economy has an effect: When it isn't growing, there's less to go around and more competition for jobs. That breeds suspicion and hostility. It's a sad state of affairs. There's going to be pressure from all sides to get something done. JAMESTOWN, N.D., John Santi, 23, photographer: Racism is still a major problem, with some areas being more of a problem than others. Here in North Dakota racism still happens, but it is not nearly as bad as in Los Angeles where the riots took place. Overall, racism isn't getting better or worse; it's just staying the same. ARLINGTON, Va., Ruth C. Granados, 26, legis., research spec.: Right now, there are not good race relations. We don't have a sense of national pride as diverse groups within one nation. If we work toward seeing ourselves as culturally diverse, then we could create better policy and improve race relations. IRVINE, Calif., Sherri Goodrum, 33, marketing specialist: Race relations are progressing slowly, and I am saddened by the brutality on both sides. Diplomacy and understanding will soothe initial relations, but immediate action must be taken to provide education and jobs to build confidence and enforce the family structure. CHARLOTTE, N.C., Jack B. Evett, 50, engineering professor: From where I sit, race relations are better than they have been. The great majority of people of different races get along well on a day-to-day basis, although there's a lot of rhetoric out there that would lead you to think otherwise. TOPIC - HURRICANE ANDREW: Orrin Pilkey, a professor of geology at Duke University, was interviewed by USA TODAY'S Sharon Shahid. DO YOU THINK FLORIDA'S TOUGH BUILDING CODES REDUCED DAMAGE? The building construction has to have played a major role in holding down the damage. The state of Florida has high-wind construction building codes, as do most coastal states where there is some hurricane potential. The problem is not so much the code as it is enforcement. HOW HAVE THE CODES BEEN TOUGHENED? Building codes are supposed to make buildings resistant to high winds. A typical building on the coast should be so well connected that you could pick it up, turn it upside down, shake it and it would still hold together. The second element of construction is elevation, which is supposed to reduce the potential for damage from waves. The idea is to have the elevation of houses be well above the 100-year flood level. That's required by federal flood insurance. ARE BUILDING CODES IN SOME STATES TOUGHER THAN IN OTHERS? Texans discovered after Hurricane Alicia in 1983 that their building codes were weaker than in North Carolina - and they suffered accordingly. We had a group of engineers go from North Carolina to Texas, and their judgment was that the damage in Texas was much greater than it would have been in North Carolina because of differences in building codes - which have been strengthened in Texas, by the way. Issues & Debate Editor: Kate Coughlin. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. 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