The Federal Government Out Of Control (Part 1)

"It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself--anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face...; was itself a punishable offense. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime...George Orwell (1984)

On Wednesday, the Guardian newspaper out of London broke a story that sends shivers down your spine.  It is right out of the novel by George Orwell 1984 which is best known for the phrase, "Big Brother is watching you".  This week, the Guardian released the story the Verizon now has to provide the NSA (National Security Agency) with daily information on calls by their customers both inside the U.S.  and from foreign locations into the United States.  This information includes numbers dialed and received and length of calls.  It does not require the content of the calls.  The NSA claims that this information allows them to construct a map of individuals daily movements, social connections, travel habits and other personal information.  In other words, where you go, where you have been and who your friends are.

Little do you know, the federal government has been collecting phone records ever since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001.  This collection of phone records falls under Section 215 of the Patriot Act which was put into place by then President George W. Bush.  This section authorizes the federal government to make broad demands on telephone providers.  As a Senator, now president Barack Obama supported changes in this blanket act which would require the feds to convince a judge that the records they are seeking have some connection to a national security threat.  As a newly elected president Obama said, "As for our common defense, we reject false the choice between our safety and our ideals".  It appears that in his second term hew has changed his mind.  On Thursday his administration defended the collection of Verizon's records as a necessity on the war on terror.

The bottom line here is that our federal government is out of control.  They are using the war on terror as a way to spy on their own citizens.  I am all for trying to get these terrorists before they kill innocent people.  However, any type of blanket like rules of surveillance scares the hell out of me.  What will be next?  Microchips implanted under the skin at birth so they can track each and every citizen?  Tomorrow, Part 2 of my 3 part series on The Federal Government Out Of Control.  We will take a hard look at surveillance drones and cameras.