The vigor with which the federal government is attempting to eliminate individual privacy rights is simply astonishing.

As if the Patriot Act/s intrusions are enough, now comes the U.S. Department of Education/s desire to create a national database that would include detailed reports on every student enrolled in a college or university.

Besides the usual information about trends, the department wants personal data, too 7 and it would make the information available to the Justice Department. Officials say they need such information to make colleges and universities more accountable and to better track dropout rates.

Just because most college students are young doesn/t mean they don/t have the right to at least some personal privacy.

We can understand some limited government interest in tracking students who receive federal aid, but we see absolutely no reason for gaining personal information beyond what is already available. Social Security numbers, home addresses and phone numbers are the kinds of facts that can be stolen from a database, and frequently are used in identity theft.

This is an uncalled-for intrusion by the federal government. Trying to keep the government from building massive databases of personal information is like trying to stop an ocean liner under full power. Congress should end this nonsense. The best way to stop an ocean liner under full steam is to never let it leave the dock.

June 2, 2005