Is Kasich Trying to Have It Both Ways on Surveillance?

Last weekend I once again headed to New Hampshire with the Internet 2016 campaign to bird-dog a presidential candidate about issues Internet voters care about. This time it was John Kasich at a community center in Claremont.

The audience consisted of only around 30 people — largely older retired folks plus a few parents who brought their young children and teenagers along. After a brief introduction from the local mayor-elect, Gov. Kasich spent most of the hour answering questions from the crowd.

Kasich spent a considerable amount of time painting himself as a serious policymaker who listens to people and is uninterested in the petty politicking that’s come to characterize Washington, D.C. Kasich talked about times when he’s worked with Democrats and also engaged attendees who didn’t share his views in a respectful way.

The purpose of the Internet 2016 campaign is to get all presidential candidates to commit to respecting principles of free speech, access, choice, privacy and openness online. Because Kasich has gotten relatively little media attention thus far in the campaign cycle, the Internet 2016 team wanted to ask him how he plans to expand Internet access, particularly in rural and underconnected areas. We had also hoped to find out more about his plans to deal with the routine unwarranted surveillance of Americans.

While I was unable to get in a question about access or surveillance, Kasich did talk about encryption and the challenges the government faces between balancing the need to maintain national security and respecting the Fourth Amendment rights of Americans. Unfortunately he didn’t offer specifics on how he would handle this — though he did say that if elected he would want to “get some smart people in a room to hash it out without politics.”

Earlier this year Gov. Kasich told ABC News that he believes there is a “middle ground” between gathering intelligence and protecting the privacy rights of Americans. In the same interview he also said that he believes that programs instituted under the Patriot Act should continue. But the surveillance the Patriot Act allows doesn’t represent any kind of middle ground.

Although Kasich’s plan to talk to experts about how to balance the need for surveillance while protecting Americans’ constitutional rights might sound reasonable it really isn’t. There’s no way to condone a certain amount of unchecked spying.

If Kasich is serious about listening to people, even those he doesn’t agree with, he should listen to the millions who have spoken out against government surveillance in the wake of Edward Snowden’s revelations.