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Cato Daily Dispatch for December 7, 2001

Civil Libertarians Aid Terrorists?
Oracle's Ellison Donates Software to NSA
Holdout States May Offer Different Microsoft Settlement Proposal

Civil Libertarians Aid Terrorists?

In forceful and unyielding testimony, Attorney General John Ashcroft today defended the administration's array of antiterrorism proposals and accused some of the program's critics of aiding terrorists by providing "ammunition to America's enemies," according to The New York Times.

Emboldened by public opinion surveys showing that Americans overwhelmingly support the administration's initiatives against terrorism, Mr. Ashcroft told the Senate Judiciary Committee, "To those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: your tactics only aid terrorists."

Cato scholars have written extensively on the impact of increased police powers on civil liberties. Their articles are available online. Yesterday, the Cato Institute hosted "Terrorists, Military Tribunals, and the Constitution," a policy forum featuring Timothy Lynch, director, Project on Criminal Justice, Cato Institute; Michael Nardotti, major general, U. S. Army (ret.), former judge advocate general; and Lee Casey, Baker & Hostetler; and Joseph Robert Barnes, brigadier general, U.S. Army (ret.), former assistant judge advocate general for Military Law. Video of the event is available online.

Oracle's Ellison Donates Software to NSA

Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison said Tuesday that he has donated Oracle software to the U.S. government to create a database for national security, according to CNET.

Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Ellison has championed the need for the United States to create a national standard for identification cards. During his keynote speech at Oracle's OpenWorld customer conference here, Ellison said he had delivered Oracle's 9i database management software to a U.S. government agency for national security, but he declined to give further details, such as which agency or for what usage.

"We don't run those law enforcement agencies. We just provide them software," he said during a news conference.

Ellison had earlier offered to donate Oracle's database software, but to charge for maintenance and upgrades as part of his goal of creating a national ID standard.

"While the Bush Administration has wisely said national ID cards are not an option, apparently some members of Congress are considering taking Ellison up on his offer," writes Cato scholar Adam Thierer in "National ID Cards: New Technologies, Same Bad Idea." "Instead of providing meaningful solutions to terrorism, national ID cards will become at best an unnecessary nuisance for most citizens," he says. "In extreme cases, they could produce massive breaches of individual privacy."

Cato's Tim Lynch recently appeared on CNN's Moneyline and discussed the various proposals for a national identification card program. Video of the show is available online.

Holdout States May Offer Different Microsoft Settlement Proposal

The states pursuing the antitrust case against Microsoft Corp. will recommend that the company be required to offer a stripped-down version of its Windows operating system and be monitored more stringently than was agreed to by federal prosecutors, according to The Washington Post.

The proposals are part of a lengthy set of changes the states will seek in an agreement reached last month between the company and the Justice Department and several other states. Prosecutors from nine states and the District of Columbia decided against joining that agreement, deeming it inadequate to curb Microsoft's anti-competitive behavior.

Sources said final details of the proposals, to be submitted today to a federal district court, were still being worked on late last night and were subject to change. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who heads the coalition of holdout states, declined to comment on details.

Cato Institute Senior Fellow in Constitutional Studies and Microsoft expert Robert A. Levy had the following comments about the proposed settlement:

"Prospects look good for settlement of the biggest antitrust case in decades. That means Microsoft's billionaire rivals will have failed in their attempt to use government to win in the political arena what they couldn't win in the marketplace.

"It also means that consumers won't have to pick up the tab while high-tech executives devote more resources to politicking than to the development of integrated products.

"To settle the case, Microsoft will have to make more concessions than justified by this baseless lawsuit and the company still faces litigation from competitors, opportunistic trial lawyers, the European Union, and perhaps even state attorneys general who don't agree to the settlement. That's regrettable, but at least the federal antitrust lawsuit won't be around to sap economic growth so essential to the post-WTC recovery."