The liberal Palm Beach Post fumed today in an editorial that "this no longer is your father's ACLU, especially when it comes to privacy rights."

If you haven't heard about the cause of the uproar, the New York Times tattled Saturday that ACLU "is using sophisticated technology to collect a wide variety of information about its members and donors in a fund-raising effort that has ignited a bitter debate over its leaders' commitment to privacy rights."

"Some board members say the extensive data collection makes a mockery of the organization's frequent criticism of banks, corporations and government agencies for their practice of accumulating data on people for marketing and other purposes."

'Hypocrisy'

Wendy Kaminer, a member of the corporation's board, complained: "It is part of the ACLU's mandate, part of its mission, to protect consumer privacy. It goes against ACLU values to engage in data-mining on people without informing them. It's not illegal, but it is a violation of our values. It is hypocrisy."

Another board member, Robert Remar, said he was ignorant until last week that ACLU was using an outside company to gather data and that the mining had expanded from major donors to people giving as little as $20. "Honestly, I don't know the details of how they do it because that's not something a board member would be involved in," he told the Times.

Bad news for the outfit: Camera-hogging New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who zealously attacks real and imagined corporate sleaze to fuel his bid for the governorship, is investigating whether ACLU violated its pledge to protect the privacy of its donors and members.

The Post raged, "With privacy guardians like this, who needs John Aschroft?"

P.S.: How about Anti-American Criminal Lovers United?

Editor's note: