Posted on 02/19/2015 5:28:49 PM PST by upchuck
Unfortunately, privacy as we once knew it is dead.
“You had to live—did live, from habit that became instinct—in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.”—George Orwell, 1984
None of us are perfect. All of us bend the rules occasionally. Even before the age of overcriminalization, when the most upstanding citizen could be counted on to break at least three laws a day without knowing it, most of us have knowingly flouted the law from time to time.
Indeed, there was a time when most Americans thought nothing of driving a few miles over the speed limit, pausing (rather than coming to a full stop) at a red light when making a right-hand turn if no one was around, jaywalking across the street, and letting their kid play hookie from school once in a while. Of course, that was before the era of speed cameras that ticket you for going even a mile over the posted limit, red light cameras that fine you for making safe “rolling stop” right-hand turns on red, surveillance cameras equipped with facial recognition software mounted on street corners, and school truancy laws that fine parents for “unexcused” absences.
My, how times have changed.
Today, there’s little room for indiscretions, imperfections, or acts of independence—especially not when the government can listen in on your phone calls, monitor your driving habits, track your movements, scrutinize your purchases and peer through the walls of your home. That’s because technology—specifically the technology employed by the government against the American citizenry—has upped the stakes dramatically so that there’s little we do that is not known by the government.
In such an environment, you’re either a paragon of virtue, or you’re a criminal.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, we’re all criminals. This is the creepy, calculating yet diabolical genius of the American police state: the very technology we hailed as revolutionary and liberating has become our prison, jailer, probation officer, Big Brother, and Father Knows Best all rolled into one.
Consider that on any given day, the average American going about his daily business will be monitored, surveilled, spied on, and tracked in more than 20 different ways, by both government and corporate eyes and ears. A byproduct of this new age in which we live, whether you’re walking through a store, driving your car, checking email, or talking to friends and family on the phone, you can be sure that some government agency, whether the NSA or some other entity, is listening in and tracking your behavior.
Read the rest of the article at Western Journalism
Yes and buying up $1.6 billion in ammo.
That would be the low end of the normal curve.
“We are living in a virtual police state.”
Welcome to the silicon curtain, citizen number ####
Unintended Consequences?
But sometimes life is risk and if the stakes are high enough it is worth it. One of the problems our country is having right now is that nobody wants to put them self in harms way to fight for freedom. This is how someone could actually do that. But the issue is a lot more complicated than I have time to explain right now. I have to get to work.
OK, here is my question: Big Brother represents government, we recognize that. But it takes flesh and blood individuals to “watch” us, and report back to flesh and blood individuals who make up government. How difficult would it be to identify them for targeting when they’ve gone too far?
In other words, who gives the orders? Who reports to them? What are the job titles involved? And do we start at the top of the chain of command and work down (my preference; get the ones who GIVE THE ORDERS first) or with the data gatherers and work up?
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