by Miranda

The offensive Homeland Security logo* — a creepy roving eye looking through a keyhole — is not the first time our government's spooks have given "we the people" their one-fingered salute.

Almost ten years ago, the National Security Agency (NSA) announced its inclusion of the so-called "Tessera" PCMCIA card for use with laptop computers, using the Skipjack algorithm to encrypt data. This is similar to the infamous Clipper Chip that the Clinton administration tried to place in all voice communications systems built in the U.S. (The debate centered on speculation that the NSA retained back-door encryption keys that allowed them to intercept encrypted data, a suspicion reinforced by the fact that the government refused to open up the technology to civilian peer-review.)

A "tessera" is defined by the Oxford Unabridged Dictionary and Starr's History of the Classical World as: "An identity chit or marker. Tessereae were forced on conquered peoples and domestic slaves by their Roman occupiers or owners. Slaves or Gauls who refused to accept a tesserea were branded or maimed as a form of identification."

The NSA spooks obviously thought they were having a cynical little joke at the expense of the American people.

When cyber nerds realized this, there was a great hue and cry on the Internet. Since that time the NIST changed the chip's name from "Tessera" to "Fortezza", ostensibly to avoid a trademark infringement.

Our government and its minions appear to see themselves as conquerors dominating the masses. The Homeland Security logo is yet another example of the elephant-balled arrogance of our leaders. It is a blatant screw-you to all Americans. After all, where do you find a keyhole? In the front door of your home, the one place that has traditionally been the most private. The logo's message is clear: the government is ready and willing to invade your private sanctuary.

I can only hope that the logo was designed to distract attention away from the other problems with Poindexter's spy proposal. But no doubt there are plenty of government spooks out there having a malicious snicker about it. Keep laughing. If I see a roving eye on the other side of my keyhole, I'm stubbing my cigarette out on it.