So Alan Ehrenhalt thinks privacy is overrated, begs for national ID
cards, complains that people use computer encryption and tells
citizens to make a distinction between aberration and routine when
discussing privacy in America (Focus June 6).

Let's discuss the routine.

Employers frequently snoop on employees e-mail, telephone calls and
"private" lockers.

They can demand samples of employees urine without
cause.

A person in New York City can be expected to be on surveillance
cameras about 20 times a day. Your Social Security number is demanded
for everything from a movie rental to a drivers license.

If you pay for an airline ticket in cash, expect to be put into a
database of "possible terrorists." Police departments around the
country are clamoring for cameras to spy on "possible criminals and
drug dealers." Under the drug war hysteria, policemen drive around
with infrared detectors, aiming at houses hoping to discover
"criminals" growing plants (marijuana). Thousands are routinely
stopped along our nation's highways and often illegally searched for
drugs, even though studies show that drugs are found in less than 1
percent of those stopped.

Ehrenhalt says that anyone worried about privacy is either paranoid or
guilty of "something." The problem is that there are so many laws now
(when is the last time any government repealed a law?) almost
everybody can be said to be guilty of something.

Ehrenhalt may cheerfully volunteer to place his face under the
crushing boot heel of a government obsessed with knowing everything
about everyone, but I refuse. Perhaps he should move to a friendly
place like Singapore and find out firsthand how benign "Big Brother"
is.

Steve Miller,
Seattle