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University Daily Kansan
Friday, May 6, 1955
Wiretapping-the Big Unanswered Question
Wiretapping is a furtive trade that is about to celebrate its 60th anniversary. The modern criminal depends heavily on the telephone to conduct his business and in the light of this fact, federal, state, and municipal law enforcers have come to depend on wire taps to obtain information.
The first case was in 1895, less than 20 years after the telephone was invented. Since then state and federal laws and a string of court cases have served to confuse the issue completely.
The Federal Communications Act of 1934 provides that "no person not being authorized by the sender shall intercept any communication and divulge or publish it." Only one man has ever been convicted of a violation of this act.
The question of whether the government should have the authority to use wiretap evidence in cases involving national security is far more complex than it looks, for it involves the crucial question of how we can best protect the individual's right of privacy while safeguarding the nation against those who would destroy it. How can we strike the delicate balance between freedom and security?
When a businessman or government official makes a telephone call, how can he be sure that his conversation is private? The telephone company says he can't. Almost no one is safe from wire taps. The police can do it, his business competitor can do it, and his wife can do it.
Most states have some sort of law against phone tapping. Some forbid all tapping; others make exceptions for government agencies, but 31 states admit it as legal evidence in court.
Under the guarantee of the Fourth amendment, which states that "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures . . . " no law enforcement officer may search a private home without a warrant, but how far does this protection go? Society suffers when men and women cannot be brought to justice, yet a respect for the rights of the individual—including one of his most precious rights, the right of privacy—is fundamental to democratic government.
Starting with 1928, a series of important interpretations of the law have been made. The first of these laid down the view that there is nothing unconstitutional about wiretapping. This cleared the legal path for wide open wiretapping in the years that followed.
Uncontrolled tapping, although constitutional, was not welcomed by the general public, and during 1929 four bills were sponsored in Congress to outlaw wiretap evidence in federal courts. None of them passed.
Section 605 of the Federal Communications Act, passed in 1934, made wiretapping illegal. Whether or not Congress actually intended this section to regulate wiretapping is still in dispute. In more recent years the pendulum has been swinging away from the rigid interpretation, and from 1942 to the present, court decisions have been cutting away at the once clear intent of earlier rulings.
Whatever we do in this case, we cannot hope that the basic problem will be solved once and for all. Each time the question comes up, the decision will be just as difficult. The point at issue will be the one we face today: Where the nation's security and individual liberties conflict, how is the choice to be made?
—Gordon Hudelson
... Letters
Dear Editor;
These people that can't tolerate humor in our nerve-wrought society of today make me mad. Or can it be blamed on a lack of a sense of humor?
Either way, Miss Baker's poorlywritten treatise on the Sour Owl is a bowl of Sour grapes.
Since she couldn't understand the humor in most of the book, herself, she sought to throw water on the appreciation of the 2,000 or so KU students who did like the book.
Might it not have been better if Miss Baker had analyzed the features in the Owl according to some other criterion than personal poor taste before blandly tossing off her extremely personal and extremely misguided analysis?
Miss Baker's words might have
carried a bit more weight had she said:
"Now this joke (pointing to a specific feature) has none of the three necessary elements of humor. It has neither tragedy, incongruity, nor surprise. Besides lacking these basic humorous elements, it lacks a punchline and any kind of hidden meaning, and it is poorly constructed."
In other words, Miss Baker, editors of the Owl accept and welcome criticism if the critic knows anything about humor.
I dare you to define humor. Miss Baker; your personal opinion needs a little background.
Ron Grandon
Bird-cage cleaner of the Sour Owl
Journalism junior
Ron Grandon
..Oh Well..
By JON
I have a friend (although I'll never be seen with him in public) who happens to be a lover of the art of hillbilly music. Sad . . . ah yes . . . but true. And last night he pulled up a stack of Hank Thompson records, sat down on them, and—to the tune of "I Didn't Know God Made Honky Tonk Angels"—poured out his heart to me. Folks (Just Plain Folks), please do me a favor: The next time you see a guy sashay over to the joke box, drop in a quarter, and swoon to the pride of Tin Can Alley . . . don't bare your fangs at him. He's probably my friend.
And, as a special favor to him,
I've appointed him president of a new society: S.P.C.L.H.M. (The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to the Lovers of Hillbilly Music). Memberships are now being taken it your nearest all-night beanery.
Fashion Note Department:
The big rage on the Colorado U. campus is not Bermuda shorts. It's toreador pants (or whatever you call those things). Puzzle question: For men too?
Open Letter Department: Dear Sig Eps. .. You may have one, too ... But this one's a Phi Delt. .. Love. . Jon.
Junk Department: Subject for the day-Statues.
Standing on a hilltop
Amid Kansas' plains—
Spade in hand
And muscles strained
(That rhyme's rather
strained too)—
Is The Pioneer:
The king of a new frontier.
He waits and watches
Every lass. . .
And knows that someday
The One will pass.
But summers come
And winters flit
And that spade's
Still buried
In the grit.
Oh well.
The Naval Observatory clocks in Washington, D.C., which set the time standards for the country, sometimes are off only one second or less in a month.
Dailu Hansan
University of Kansas Student Newspaper
News Room, Ad Room,
1739 S. 26th St.
Member of the Inland Daily Press association. Associated Collegeate Press association. Represented by the National American Library Association. Mail subscription rates. $3 a semester or $4.50 a year (add $1 a semester if in summer). Attend every afternoon during the University year except Saturdays and Sundays. University holidays and examination periods. Offered as second class matriculation. 178-179, post office under act of March 3, 1879.
Editorial Editor Karen Hilmer
Editorial Assistant reinton Ron Grandon
EDITORIAL STAFF
Business Mgr. Georgia Wallace
Advertiser Mgr. Jerry Jurden
Advertiser Mdr. David Mgr.
Circulation Mgr. Sue Epperson
Circulation Mgr. Jay Roisheer
Biasing Advisor Biasing Advisor
RUSINESS STAFF
NEWS STAFF
Man. Editors...LaVerie Yates, Mary
...Bess Stephens, Irene Confer,
Tom Lyons
News Editor...Lee An Urban
Assistant News Editor...Henry
Dick Walt
Aust. Sports Editor...John McMillion
Wire Editor...Amy DeYong
Society Editor...Gretchen Guinn
Asst. Society Editor...Maledin Shane
Guarnia Adviser...C. M. Pickett
Executive Editor ... Nancy Neville
Man. Editors ... LaVerie Mary, Mary
"Well—don't iust stand there tongue-tied. . . Answer my question."
Is Silence Only Answer?
The Age Old Question- Is Censorship Too Great?
"I know of no country in which there is so little independence a mind and real freedom of discussion as in America. The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided." So spoke Alex de Tocqueville in 1830. ___
He pinpointed the danger which has been prevalent in our democracy for a much longer time than the more recent fright which the Wisconsin senator has implanted. That danger is the fear of being shunned by friends because of, not wrong or dangerous ideas, but of varying opinionis which may sound tainted.
"Even those who believe in your innocence," de Tocqueville added, "will abandon you, lest they should be shunned in their turn."
The fears have since continued to grow, and the patterns of thought are subsequently narrowing.
Sen. J. William Fulbright (D-Ark.) has attributed a part of such thought censorship to the tightening of communication channels. In doing so he points to the increasing monopolistic trend of newspapers, radio, and the motion picture industry.
His opinion is shared by many; too often, those who feel that they know the truth and would like to say it fear that those who control the communication outlets would relay the opinions unfairly, or not at all. Recently, the danger has been publicized as a result of publication of ideas, as to their censorship after they have been communicated.
Because of this danger, it is generally true that few wish to speak openly. It is further evident that many who do speak alter their thoughts to those which they are certain will be sanctioned by society. A block to democracy? -yes, and yet a direct result.
It was the chairman of the Reece committee of the House of Representatives who said that the trustees of the tax-exempt foundation should be careful of promoting ide, which run contrary to the public "wishes, approves, and likes"
It was the United States military academies which banned study debate on the question of recognition of Red China.
And, it was the federal government that held loyalty investigations of employees, down to the lajitanter. The ideas that challenge the traditional thought pattern were immediately suspect materi—and all too frequently brande Communistic.
Auxiliary to the government probes and checks is the America Legion, which carefully blackmail all "unpatriotic" expressions.
Thought can never be completely controlled, but its development can be guided in many ways. Because of this, educators have been amour the first to be watched, criticized and controlled.
One of the most obvious control methods has been the book burnings. After the State department direction to ban certain books, protectors assumed the task of censorship.
A proposed law in Ohio calls for pre-publication censorship of magazines. In Texas, textbooks cannot be purchased until the author has vowed he is not a Communist.
In view of the care which is being given to American thought, the most inviting alternative to being branded a subversive is to remain silent. A more effective straight jacket for truth could not be askee
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