This month, David Holtzman’s GlobalPOV examines different sides of the “Homeland Security vs. Privacy” debate. Is there a necessary compromise in civil liberties as we secure the homeland? How, exactly, are the latest technologies affecting the scope of the conversation? These are the topics we sought to explore in this month’s issue. Interviews include:

• A policy analyst from the Electronic Privacy Information Center describes the government’s lack of disclosure (regarding homeland security technologies and tactics), and highlights some of the potential civil liberties violations that his organization is worried about.
• A well-known futurist (David Brin, author of The Transparent Society), argues whether there actually even is a tradeoff between privacy and security.
• Two lawyers (with great vantage points on the impact of technology on civil liberties) offer their points of view about ethical boundaries, accountability, and the constitutional implications of homeland security initiatives.
• Three IT vendors share new information about the specific ways that technology is supporting national security efforts.
• A linguist (who works closely with the intelligence community) describes how much information a mere name can generate, and questions whether ‘discrimination’ is necessarily such a bad thing after all.
• 20 participants from various sectors share brief responses to the question what are the realistic civil liberties concerns with respect to Homeland Security?

GlobalPOV selected each of this month’s participants based on their ability to bring a unique expertise to the table. We posed difficult questions, with the goal of providing you, our readers, with content-rich interviews that would stimulate message board debate and expose the full implications of this issue. We invite you to respond to these points of view and, of course, to share your own unique perspectives.

You will also find regular GlobalPOV editorial items, including an essay by Global POV publisher David Holtzman, links to related articles in the news and a list of pending legislation.