Is libertarianism a fringe ideology, pushed by a tiny minority? Since 2002, Gallup has been asking Americans if they think the government is too powerful. Today, Gallup published its polling data for 2015. Fully SIXTY PERCENT now say the federal government has too much power. See here. The view that the current federal government has …
Category: surveillance
Sep 19
In the wake of 9/11, the U.S. government falsely arrested thousands of innocent Americans
Under common law, any cop (or anyone else, for that matter) who arrested another person without probable cause to believe a crime was committed was AT LEAST liable for false arrest. (Actually, under 19th-century common law, actual guilt and not mere probable cause was the standard.) But after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the U.S. …
Jul 15
Government continues to seek total access to every microprocessor
Jacob Sullum is one of America’s most gifted writers on civil liberties. His most recent column points out that federal police-state control freaks are (once again) seeking to ensure that all future federal laws governing computer technology be written so that the surveillance freaks in the federal government (the NSA, FBI, etc.) will always be …
Jul 11
U.S. Census Workers Violate Privacy, “Camp out” in Yards of Americans who Decline to Participate
by Dr. Roger I. Roots, founder, Lysander Spooner University I remember years ago after I graduated from law school, I applied for a job with the U.S. Census Bureau. I attended an initiation meeting in Providence, Rhode Island. At that meeting I recall a Census official telling applicants that as Census agents we would be …
Jul 02
Kuwait becomes first country to mandate government DNA registry for all subjects
The endless quest by governments to monitor, surveil and control all human life and activity continues. It went mostly unnoticed 10 years ago when the U.S. Congress enacted a “Real ID” law requiring that every state impose some form of biometric identifier in its driver-licensing. There was a minor popular backlash in state legislatures; then …
Jun 04
NSA Secretly Expands Its Powers Without Authorization–Again!
The New York Times is reporting today that the TSA has once again expanded its spying on Americans’ internet and email communications, despite the lapsing of the USA Patriot Act and a total lack of congressional authorization. The new spying apparently does have the approval of President Obama, who campaigned in 2008 that he would …
Jun 02
FBI Now Using Secret Airforce to Monitor Citizens’ Communications and Movements
It has now come out that the FBI has been operating a fleet of small aircraft to monitor and surveil Americans’ movements and communication without warrants. The story is here.
Jun 01
Rand Paul States the Obvious: Government Has a Stake in Promoting Terrorism So It Can Increase its Control and Power
Great USA Patriot Act theater as May turns into June 2015. U.S. Senator Rand Paul, arguing to allow the unconstitutional USA Patriot Act to expire, states that many people are hoping for new terrorist attacks on American soil, so that such attacks can be blamed on Rand Paul. The video and commentary are here. This …
Apr 01
Federal “Cybercrime” Investigators Seek Total Power over Internet; Are Caught Engaging in Online Identity Theft, Online Blackmail, Online Money Laundering, etc.
About a month ago, federal prosecutors successfully prosecuted an internet entrepreneur for launching a lucrative anonymous cyber exchange known as “the Silk Road.” FBI agents supposedly worked to investigate and shut down the free-exchange web network for several years. Federal efforts against “the Silk Road” exchange were accompanied by a massive across-federal-agencies offensive promoting more …
Feb 28
Courts Continue Abandoning Surveillance Restrictions, While Congress and the President Slowly Abandon Plans to Limit NSA
February 27, 2015. In the immediate wake of Edward Snowden’s revelations that the NSA is unconstitutionally intercepting, seizing and storing virtually every American email and phone record, there were many promises by congressional candidates and President Obama to stop the NSA’s mass surveillance. Now, months later, a federal court has again renewed an order allowing …
