LOSS OF PRIVACY

Regarding "The GPS as creepy shadow" (Our Opinion, Sept. 10): Creepy?
Yes. Shocking? No. Just another example of the excesses of
prohibition.

This recent intrusion into privacy is just another in a long chain
that began with a 1929 Supreme Court decision affirming the conviction
of the notorious bootlegger Roy Olmstead. It was the first wiretapping
case to reach the Supreme Court.

In his dissent, Justice Louis Brandeis coined two notable concepts.
One was that "the greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious
encroachments by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding."
The other was about "the right to be left alone." His warnings are
often quoted but seldom heeded. We have lost cherished legal
traditions in our futile attempts to stamp out popular drugs, first
alcohol and now marijuana. It can't be done, but we keep trying, so
the losses accumulate.

JOHN CHASE

Palm Harbor