[Infowarrior] - DHS asks firefighters to "spy" in people's homes

[Richard Forno]

(c/o BoingBoing)

The Department of Homeland Security is asking firefighters to snoop around
in homes they're called to for emergencies. The DHS likes the idea because
firefighters aren't bound by pesky warrants and probable cause and can
therefore report on suspicious material like blueprints, anti-American
literature, and potential bomb-making materials (e.g., the bedrooms of every
friend I had, circa 1985). Firefighters are just the latest legion of
potential snoops the DHS is leaning on -- they've also asked meter-readers
to peer into our windows and sheds to find evidence of bad-guy-ery. This
stuff doesn't work and won't work: amateur pecksniffs snitching on their
neighbors just flood cops with bad intel, and turn the country into East
Germany, a land where everyone is on alert lest they say the wrong thing and
get turned in to the secret police

Video:

http://rawstory.com/rawreplay/?p=127