Electronic Surveillance is Everywhere

We live in the golden era of surveillance; every phone is designed to be tapped, the Internet passes through snooping equipment of agencies that are so vast and unaccountable that we hardly know their bounds. Corporations are forced (though some are willing enough!) to hand over our data and data of those whom we love. Our lives are ruled by networks and yet those networks are not ruled by our consent. These networks keep us hooked up but it is not without costs that they keep us hooked together. The businesses, the governments, and the individuals that power those networks are incentivized to spy, to betray and to do it silently. The architecture of the very systems produces these outcomes.—This is tyranny.

http://craphound.com/homeland/Cory_Doctorow_-_Homeland.pdf

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Surveillance in America…it’s Really Bad

Hey America, wake up. We are so smug about America being the land of freedom. Well, we’re not even close…in fact we are at the bottom of the barrel

See this site: http://www.privacyinternational.org/article.shtml?cmd%5B347%5D=x-347-559597

1. Border Issues

1. Communications intercepted
2. Financial Surveillance
3. Legal protections withdrawn
4. Medical surveillance
5. Movement Surveillance
6. Privacy gone
7. Use of biometrics in Federally required ID cards

The list above are the points where we at the bottom of the heap. America has been downgraded from “Extensive Surveillance Society” to “Endemic Surveillance Society,” according to Privacy International’s 2007 International Privacy Ranking released on (12-28-07) last Friday. We are right in there with communist China, Malaysia, Myanmar, Russia, and Singapore. Greece, India, The Philippines, Canada, and Romania, rate much better then the ‘US of A’ in freedoms.

I wonder if this has anything to do with Bush’s illegal contravention of 5 of the 10 freedoms guaranteed in the Bill of Rights in our constitution? Dispensing with Habeas Corpus perhaps? Allowing total surveillance on ALL American citizens maybe. Perhaps it’s Bush’s changing laws by himself, his declaring himself ‘Commander in Chief ‘ and the whole world is his battlefield. Of course there are no human rights on the battlefield. Maybe it’s his telling his Storm Troopers that we have the inherent right (as the strongest power in the world) to go into any country and kidnap anyone we want for any reason.

And yes, we are talking REAL kidnapping here. Bag over the head at night, whisking away to waiting transportation, and flying out of the country. No interface with the locals or the countries leaders. We are Supreme.

Do we want to be associated with this as a nation? We already have the reputation as ‘The Ugly American.”

Goodwill to all.

Big Brother really is Watching

 

Some good sites to witness what is being wrote about our societies changes in the last few years

The beginning of Big Brothers invasion of our right to privacy by president and VP, Bill Clinton and Al Gore. They failed, but George Bush didn’t.
http://www.aclu.org/privacy/spying/15440pub19980301.html

How would you like to have to get permission to travel domestic routes on airlines? Well read this, you will get a chill.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=6892

Kiss your privacy and freedom to travel goodbye
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1229-35.htm

By far, our own government is a bigger threat to our freedom than any possible menace posed by Al-Qaida.–T.J. Rogers, CEO, Cypress Semiconductor, San Jose, CA.

Another example of the secret world of president Bush
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20030317/cole

Big Brother IS watching and listening and probably will be tracking you soon.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200604/nsa-surveillance

Watching you in public. You’re a star, smile
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=31511

In America you are no longer innocent till proven guilty. You are guilty until proven innocent. No more ‘due process’
http://www.policestate21.com/fascist_agenda.html

“The president’s latest action shows that he is willing to be personally involved in the cover-up of suspected illegal activity,‘ “—Representative Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat

White House cover-ups…they just keep coming and coming
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2006/07/19/BL2006071900935.html

Sucking up that info 24/7
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_4648.shtml

“Virtually every financial transaction of every American is now recorded and monitored by the federal government. Any bank transaction, all credit card charges plus phone records, credit reports, travel and even health records are captured in real time by the DARPA compute.” DOUG THOMPSON and TERESA HAMPTON, Capitol Hill Blue

Big Brother: DARPA’s Control Freak Technology
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7603
Man, I’m really depressed now; I think I’ll go to bed.

Peace and sanity to all.

Government Censorship, Free Speach, Bill of Rights

• First Amendment – Establishment clause, freedom of religion, speech, and press, and peaceable assembly as well as the right to petition the government.
• Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

“Censorship is the suppression of ideas and information that certain persons—individuals, groups or government officials—find objectionable or dangerous. It is no more complicated than someone saying, “Don’t let anyone read this book, or buy that magazine, or view that film, because I object to it! ”
Censors try to use the power of the state to impose their view of what is truthful and appropriate, or offensive and objectionable, on everyone else. Censors pressure public institutions, like libraries, to suppress and remove from public access information they judge inappropriate or dangerous, so that no one else has the chance to read or view the material and make up their own minds about it.
The censor wants to prejudge materials for everyone.” From the American Library Association Website

Institutions and private business (Such as the American Library Association and local library’s, bookstores, Amazon, etc.) receiving National Security Letters (NSL’s) are forbidden to inform anyone about the search. Without a warrant they can research your records of checked out book’s from libraries, books, and magazines you purchase. These libraries and business who receive the NSL’s are forbidden to talk about it to anyone, let alone tell the suspect.

• Fourth Amendment – Protection from unreasonable search and seizure.
• The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Upon the issue of a National Security Letter against a individual, government agents are allowed (Warrantless search) to enter their home on the sly, search the house, search all papers and download all contents of computers on the premises. They leave and the suspect is not notified that a search took place. They may search all records, public and private, wiretap and record phone calls about a person and forbid anyone who knows whats going on from talking to anyone about the search.

See:

NSA warrantless surveillance controversy

USA PATRIOT Act