Rand Paul: Big Brother Really Is Watching Us

WSJ ^ | June 10, 2013 | RAND PAUL

[george76]

Monitoring hundreds of millions of phone records is an extraordinary invasion of privacy.

When Americans expressed outrage last week over the seizure and surveillance of Verizon's client data by the National Security Agency, President Obama responded: "In the abstract, you can complain about Big Brother . . . but when you actually look at the details, I think we've struck the right balance."

How many records did the NSA seize from Verizon? Hundreds of millions. We are now learning about more potential mass data collections by the government from other communications and online companies. These are the "details," and few Americans consider this approach "balanced," though many rightly consider it Orwellian.

These activities violate the Fourth Amendment, which says warrants must be specific—"particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." And what is the government doing with these records? The president assures us that the government is simply monitoring the origin and length of phone calls, not eavesdropping on their contents. Is this administration seriously asking us to trust the same government that admittedly targets political dissidents through the Internal Revenue Service and journalists through the Justice Department?

...

The administration has responded to the public uproar by simply claiming that it is allowed to have unlimited access to all Americans' private information. This response is a clear indication that the president views our Constitutional "right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects" as null and void.

If this is the new normal in America, then Big Brother certainly is watching and it's not hyperbolic or extreme to say so. Nor is it unreasonable to fear which parts of the Constitution this government will next consider negotiable or negligible.

[no-to-illegals]

Paul cannot tell of the something more.

[no-to-illegals]

Want to know why? ... he is bound by the law.

[no-to-illegals]

and every heartache will fade away.

[no-to-illegals]

no there is never nothing more! Put your faith in men you have nothing but men. Never trust anyone over thirty. Hey, I’m over thirty.

[no-to-illegals]

Trust yourselves FRiends!

[rarestia]

Chilling.

[Logical me]

This data collection is not going to be used for security purposes but in the same similar method the IRS corruption was used. It will be part of the massive machine to destroy elections of Republicans. Wake up America. We have evolved into a communists controlled Country. The Tea Party is still blocked from donations and will be at least after the 2016 elections. Nothing can stop it.

[cuban leaf]

Yep. People really need to think this through. They need to play out “what if” scenarios. The government has. They have people that probably do this for a living.

It’s why they WANT THIS INFORMATION.

Ever wonder why there was such a huge bidding war back in the 90’s for cell phone bandwidth when, to most people, it was just a rich guy’s toy?

[no-to-illegals]

repeat often ... Do not run to me.

[no-to-illegals]

“what if”

that one passed down the road long ago ... do not run to man or woman

[no-to-illegals]

what a new disaster?

[Ol' Sox]

Soon enough, the Federal government is going to know where you ate, what you ate, how much you paid, if you’re a good tipper, with whom you associate...

Completely agree. What is more disturbing, perhaps, is that having known what you have done, they will know what you WILL eat, where you WILL eat, how much you WILL pay, with whom you WILL associate...

We should learn to live our lives as Indians passing through the woods, leaving little trace.

[no-to-illegals]

What .. a New Wind Blowing!

[no-to-illegals]

Here We Go Now!

[no-to-illegals]

Feel the Sun Shine Down Yet? skerry ain't it?

[no-to-illegals]

nope, there is no chance it happened before.

[no-to-illegals]

Hey Let’s Go Run In Circles.

[no-to-illegals]

Let’s not take the time to understand. Too much thought!

[no-to-illegals]

Heck if you are a Girl ... Kiss a Guy! If you are a Guy ... Kiss a Girl. That ought to make the other crowd angry.

[no-to-illegals]

May I claim to Australia yet? Well maybe not. Thank God, I have blood there!