ZM/yNebraskan
Since 1901
Editor Sarah Baker
Opinion Page Editor Samuel McKewon
Managing Editor Bradley Davis
Final note
Retirement of alma matter
long overdue
Most of us never got to hear the Nebraska
Alma Mater.
Not because it wasn’t played at nearly every
special university event, or because it didn’t
receive widespread publicity.
Nor was it because the song was a badly
written piece of music, albeit having pretty
corny lyrics.
It was because the groans of the audience -
students or otherwise - outdid the volume of
the song every time it was played.
In a state where pride goes hand in hand
with, well, almost everything, the former
Nebraska Alma Mater was something no one -
least of all the students - were proud of.
We say good riddance.
Every time we were forced to hear the choir
moan “Nebraska! Nebraska!” we knew at that
moment that we’d never pledge
mmmOut true loyalty especially not to
What’s the son8*
wnatsine And now that [t>s gone
use o\ hav- thanks to Interim Chancellor
ing an Harvey Perlman, we also say
alma keep it that way.
mater that What’s the use of having an
we never alma mater that we never play,
play or or onty PlaY uPon special
^ i . request?
on y p ay ifthe song couldn’t make the
upon cut ^8 why should it get a
special second chance?
request? If Take it off the list. Retire it for
the song good.
couldn’t An alma mater - by its very
make the definition - is supposed to be a
... f song which stands the test of
cut inis rar, ^g jt»s supposed to have stay
why should ing power.
it get a This one doesn’t. Didn’t.
second Never would have.
chance? Not even those in the
_ Cornhusker Marching Band -
“The Pride of All Nebraska” -
give two hoots that we’ve bid it goodbye.
If we’re going to have an alma mater, let’s
have one that does its job.
Otherwise, we’d be more than willing to
pledge our true loyalty - without any groans -
to an alma mater-free university.
Etcetera
Angela Davis and Charlene Mitchell, two
prominent human rights activists, will take to
the steps of the Capitol today at noon.
The women are speaking as part of a rally
marking the 30-year anniversary of the con
viction of Ed Poindexter and Mondo we
Longa, formerly known as David Rice.
The men are both serving life sentences in
the death of Omaha Police officer Larry D.
Minard, who was killed on Aug. 17,1970, by a
dynamite-filled briefcase.
Both men have maintained their inno
cence.
Davis has been a member of both the Black
Panthers and the Communist Party.
She brings both her enigmatic presence
and rousing beliefs to the capital city and,
through this event, gives students a chance to
listen.
It’s an opportunity that shouldn’t be
missed.
Editorial Board
Sarah Baker, Bradley Davis, Josh Funk, Matthew Hansen,
Samuel McKewon, Dane Stickney, Kimberly Sweet
Letters Policy
The Defy Nebraskan welcomes briefs, letters to the editor and guest columns, but does not gu»
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Echoes of'1984' haunt Net
“They that can give up
essential liberty to obtain a
little temporary safety
deserve neither.” -Benjamin
Franklin
What’s the scariest book
Oversight Committee launched hearings. France,
Italy, and Denmark have also launched investiga
tions.
Another e-surveillance system, Carnivore, was
confirmed in the last few months. Operated by the
FBI and Justice Department, Carnivore enables
government computers to sort e-mail communi
you vc ever remit •
When I think of a truly Jeremy
frightening tale, the one that PstllCK
instantly pops into my head
is George Orwell's “1984.”
It’s often overused as an analogy these days, the
idea of a “Big Brother” government controlling an
individual’s every step and thought. Indeed, con
trolling the very words a person is able to think
strikes me as a fate worse than any other.
However, I’ve always prided myself on being
able to separate fantasy from reality. Had anyone
told me a year ago that a worldwide network of sur
veillance devices existed to sort through and read
almost every single form of electronic communi
cation, I would have told them to stop watching so
much “X-Files” and get a life.
“That’s impossible,” I would have said. “Can
you imagine the vast amounts of data that flows
through these systems - literally billions of mes
sages a day! No organization, even if they could
collect these transmissions, could sort through
them in any meaningful way."
But my faith in the protection provided by the
sheer inefficiency of government has been shaken.
Big Brother, though not quite here, is well on
his way under a different guise: Echelon and
Carnivore.You may have heard of the recently
unveiled massive surveillance system called
“Echelon.” Created in the mid-1970s by the con
certed effort of the United States, England,
Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, Echelon liter
ally captures a vast majority of all satellite,
microwave, cellular and fiber-optic transmissions
worldwide, including telephone conversations,
faxes and e-mails.
It then uses a sophisticated filtering system to
sort the messages by keyword and group them for
human operatives to examine. The existence of
Echelon, though officially denied by the United
States, has been confirmed by Australia and New
Zealand.
Ostensibly used for “national security” purpos
es only, the use of Echelon requires no court order
or warrant. It selects messages indis
criminately, so long as the required
keyword is contained within,
and makes them available to _s
government agents.
The only oversight of
Echelon comes from
national intelligence
agencies, and they
have resisted super
vision.
For example,
the National
Security
Agency
refused to
share the
standards
used to
monitor
conversa
tions with
Congress
until the
House
Government
Reform
and
cauuiis as mey pass mrougn internet service
providers and collect those that have a certain
“To:” or “From:” address.
Unlike conventional phone wiretaps, FBI
agents have been using Carnivore without a court
order to collect and read the contents of messages.
The use of Carnivore has also resulted in con
gressional hearings. Three weeks ago Attorney
General Janet Reno announced that she would
make the system available for an independent
evaluation of its capabilities and legality.
The potential for misuse of these systems is
endless. The government is telling us not to worry
about our privacy being invaded because they
promise not to violate it
mist us, they re saying. Have we ever acted
improperly before?”
The FBI once kept extensive files on the likes of
John Lennon, Marilyn Monroe and Martin Luther
King, Jr. That should answer the question.
At least in those days the potential for abuse
was somewhat limited by the legwork involved.
Every phone wiretap required a human agent to
listen to it, and every intercepted document had to
be read by human eyes.
Now, as our society increasingly communicates
electronically, systems like Echelon and Carnivore
offer the possibility of surveillance on a virtually
unlimited number of people.
What can we do about it?
For now, not much.
A Web site operated jointly by three privacy
rights groups provides information about Echelon
at http://wmu.echelonwatch.com.
It may be eventually possible to weaken the
effectiveness of systems like it if enough people
place certain keywords (such as “bomb,” "White
House,” “assassination” and “anthrax’) randomly
throughout their e-mails.
The American Civil Liberties Union Web site,
http://www.aclu.org, allows Internet surfers to
send free faxes to Congress about Echelon and
Carnivore.
It’s clear that, one way or another, action needs
to be taken. Big Brother is watching, and he won’t
leave until we make him.
Melanie Fat/DN
Breaking out
of the prison
in the mind
*You are not
your car, you are
not your job, you
are not your
bank account,
you are not your
stupid fuckin’
khaki s. - Tyler w_«—
Durden, “Fight
Qub” MvLMUl
Most of us
probably already knew this, and we
certainly didn't need some punked
out, wanna-be bad-ass Brad Pitt char
acter to tell us this, yet let me ask you:
What do you want when you get
out of college? A good job? To buy a
new car and after that to think about
settling down and after that maybe
buy a house and after that maybe start
a family, start going to church and so
die circle continues and you may call it
the American Dream?
But I call it the great escape. The
great American cop-out - the signing
over of your life as an individual and
the putting to sleep of your ideals, your
intelligence, your individual power to
make a difference in where life’s great
train is headed.
Greetings my
fellow classmates. 1
I thought I would
take this opportu
nity to warn you
in advance of my
column.
This may help
you to compose
your opinions as
soon as possible
so that any real
thinking can be
avoided.
So step
aboard this train
ride called "The
Mighty
Contemplation."
Take a seat and
grab some
munchies.
Questions will
be posed, stereo
types will be
slashed and
burned, and revo
lutions will be
thought of as
sweet nothings to
be honored for
the sreatness
The great
American
cop-out -
the signing
over of
your life as
an
individual
and putting
to sleep of
your ideals,
your
intelligence,
your indi
vidual
power to
make a dif
ference in
where lifers
great train
is headed.
they embody.
A revolution -
the power of the
people to rise up and find freedom
once again.
Yet the United States is a free coun
try, isn't it? We have had our revolution
and we are no longer prisoners. Or are
we?
Fear. The great oppressor.
I want to know why people are so
afraid. Specifically, what is fear and
why do people choose to be paralyzed
by it rather than facing their fears head
on.
some people are so afraid of life
and all of its obstacles that they choose
the easy way out - highways manned
with 24-hour Quick Shops that stock
false medicinals, fallacies and fan
tasies. Said escape routes are going to
be the topic of my columns. They
include addictions, drug and alcohol
abuse, incarceration, marriage, reli
gion and suicide.
You see, all of us so-called "imagi
nary prisoners” really are free, so why
do so many of the greater population
spend years building their personal
prisons to be lived in day-in and day
out?
Prisons of safety, conformity, apa
thy and worse, far worse, prisons that
keep us from thinking for ourselves
and making decisions for ourselves.
Well, these are the ingredients that
are currently simmering in my jumbal
ayah pot Stay tuned for advice on how
to jump off of your mind-numbing
wheel and start running your own
race, one in which time becomes a
friend.
It is my belief that our society has
lost sight of the reason for life and indi
viduals have signed over their brains,
their wills, their very freedoms.
This backyard gypsy is abrasive,
mischievous and not a surface dweller.
So do join me if you want to go deeper.
Do join me if you wonder just like me
What’s the hurry
What’s the rush
Why the worry
Why the fuss
Since when did time become the
enemy
Since when did life become a race
Since when did how much you
make become your official time and
place?