Ruthless silencing attack

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Peninsula readers' letters: May 24

From Daily News Group readers



mercurynews.com

Posted: 05/23/2013 06:17:14 PM PDT

May 24, 2013 5:41 AM GMTUpdated: 05/23/2013 10:41:01 PM PDT





Ruthless silencing attack



Dear Editor: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is heading to Capitol Hill, where he's expected to be grilled over the Justice Department's decision to secretly seize the work, home and cellphone records used by almost 100 reporters and editors at the Associated Press. On Tuesday, Holder defended the move as a necessary step in a criminal probe of leaks of classified information.



We have the Espionage Act to essentially silence whistleblowers within the government, the FISA Amendment Act to allow for warrantless wiretapping, and the National Defense Authorization Act to strip American citizens of due process and indefinite detention; now we have one more assault in a long series of assaults against freedom of information and freedom of the press.



I would also throw in the persecution of Julian Assange at WikiLeaks and Bradley Manning as part of a process to essentially shut down the freedom of information, as symptomatic of a reconfiguration of our society into a totalitarian security and surveillance state. One where anyone who challenges the official narrative, who digs out cases of torture and war crimes -- which is, of course, what Manning and Assange presented to the American public -- is going to be ruthlessly silenced.



Ted Rudow III,



Palo Alto