Yes We Scan: Notes From The Surveillance State

in #news6 years ago

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Everybody loves a good joke, so lets start out with this... The Statistical Transparency Report Regarding Use of National Security Authorities, an annual report that, as its name implies, is designed to provide transparency in the government's surveillance of American citizens. With the election of President Trump, many of us had hoped that spying on our own people would somehow be curtailed. That was, ironically, the intent of the FISA court when it was created in 1978... to intervene on behalf of American citizens to prevent governmental overreach when it comes to issues of privacy. Unfortunately, as is usually the case, the opposite happened- FISA seems to have become a rubber stamp for national security agencies.

In 2017, the NSA collected 534 million records of American phone calls, up from 151 million in 2016- a 300 percent increase. According to former Congressman Ron Paul, outspoken Libertarian: "Has the US government intercepted your phone calls and/or text messages? You don’t know, which is why the surveillance state is so evil. Instead of assuming your privacy is protected by the US Constitution, you must assume that the US government is listening in to your communications. The difference between these is the difference between freedom and tyranny. The ultimate triumph of totalitarian states was not to punish citizens for opposing its tyranny, but to successfully cause them to censor themselves before even expressing “subversive” thoughts." It seems that the 4th Amendment has gone the way of the dinosaur, as did the 9th and 10th.

One of many problems with the surveillance state is that the spying and data collection on American citizens isn't limited to our own government, 5 Eyes allows the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to the same information that's collected from all across the globe. This is a map of the 5 Eyes bases around the world... (by "bases" I mean data collection centers)
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One oddity I noticed is that with all of the problems inherent in the Middle East, the only base is in Oman... with NONE in Israel. Hmmm

If there's a bright side to this I suppose it's that the records collected by the NSA include the numbers and time of a call or text message, but not their content. I guess if you're not a specific target, your info is fairly safe, unless you use one of several keywords (that I won't mention for security reasons). This differs somewhat from what Edward Snowden exposed in that instead of collecting bulk metadata, the NSA now only collects what could be called "random samplings," for lack of a better term.

There are still some rather troubling issues, in addition to the obvious intrusion into Constitutionally guaranteed privacy under the 4th and probably 14th Amendments. One is: "The government 'has not altered the manner in which it uses its authority to obtain call detail records,' Timothy Barrett, a spokesman at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which released the annual report, said in a statement." This would be the "rubber stamp" facet of the FISA process.

“'The intelligence community’s transparency has yet to extend to explaining dramatic increases in their collection,' said Robyn Greene, policy counsel at the Washington-based Open Technology Institute that focuses on digital issues." This is another. Congressman Paul sums it up really well with this statement...

"We cannot celebrate our freedom or call ourselves an exceptional nation as long as we are under control of the kind of surveillance that would have turned the East German Stasi green with envy. We know the East German secret police relied on millions of informants, eager to ingratiate themselves with their totalitarian rulers by reporting on their friends, neighbors, even relatives. It was a messy system but it served the purpose of preventing any “unwelcome” political views from taking hold. No one was allowed to criticize the policies of the government without facing reprisals."

With the compliance of Silicon Valley companies along with social media, the national security agencies are attempting to control thought by shadow banning and outright censorship. If they can once again gain control of the narrative, free expression will be lost. Is it just me or does it seem that censorship efforts have increased after the Congressional hearings on internet freedom.

With 5G on the horizon, it will be even easier for the NSA and others to do their data collection. It will undoubtedly be sold to the public as newer and faster internet with many new features, but rest assured it will be the powers that be that reap the lionshare of the benefits. The surveillance society will only increase as will the government's power to spy. Any vestige of privacy will be gone, likely the push to put it into even the remotest of places.

https://www.technocracy.news/nsa-triples-collection-of-u-s-phone-records-to-534-million/
https://www.technocracy.news/ron-paul-the-nsa-continues-to-abuse-americans-by-intercepting-their-telephone-calls/

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I had also thought Trump would've addressed this issue by now. Like you said, it's best to assume we'reached probably being spied on already.

I don't think the media is merely acting in compliance to censorship though, I think they're actively trying to push their own school of thought and are making fantastic progress thanks to some Lilly livered opposition

I learned that the US government could just turn on your video camera from your celphones, laptop, etc. remotely. I believe that because they hold the technology even before it goes public.

Sadly, trees impede the 5G signal.

Imma miss trees =/

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