As an American citizen and concerned activist, I feel that it is my duty to expand the public's knowledge of the overwhelming facts that should concern the general population. Since the famous (or infamous) Edward Snowden, a previous government contractor for the United States, released shocking information that the NSA (National Security Agency) has been spying on citizens, it's obvious something is wrong. Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States, once said, "He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither." Have we completely forgotten the constitution? Our rights and freedoms as Americans have softly been dwindling in the background as new cases of spying and invasion of our privacy begin to pile up. Originally, the US government spied on the American people largely by collecting phone records, text messages and other personal information and storing it on a massive database in order to back-track criminals and terrorists. Although this sounds like a way to keep our lives safer, wouldn't it of been easier for the government to speak with us as an American people and tell us that they were going to do this? Not only has national spying become a dilemma for our nation, but the spying has actually stooped down to the local governments and policing forces.
According to Wired, Virginia police have been secretively stockpiling private phone records that have been collected. At least five police agencies in southeast Virginia have been collecting since 2012 and sharing with one another the information they find. Police would use a subpoena instead of a court order or probably-cause warrant to retrieve the information. The huge database contains individual phone calls, numbers dialed, time the calls were made and duration, and the contents of seized mobile devices. In relation to the article, which you can find here- http://www.wired.com/2014/10/virginia-police-secretively-stockpiling-private-phone-records/ - many of the US local governments have been contributing to various spying networks that give and receive thousands of bits of information a day.
Not only does the local governments seem to be corrupt with spying, but now also the Secret Service have become corrupt as well. According to the News Channel 5 Network, a Nashville police chief is accusing the Secret Service of misconduct. He says that local agents once asked his officers to fake a warrant to get into a man's home. The chief, Steve Anderson, said he complained to top Secret Service officials in Washington and they did not seem to care. In the Nashville case, a Secret Service agent made a frantic call after investigating threatening comments on Facebook a Nashville man made about the president. The resident refused to come outside and said "show me your warrant". So apparently one of the agents asked a police sergeant to wave a piece of paper in the air claiming that it was a warrant in order to dupe the resident.
Original Article link: http://www.jrn.com/newschannel5/news/newschannel-5-investigates/Police-Chief-Accuses-Secret-Service-Of-Misconduct-279207151.html?lc=Tablet&lc=Smart&wew=wdddd
This kind of behavior - faking warrants, illegally spying on citizens - is absolutely unconstitutional in the United States. How are citizens supposed to support and trust their government if they cannot even trust with that they will stay out of their privacy? Our country is based off of freedom of speech, press, and self-expression, but all of that is being compromised slowly by big brother, who apparently will not leave us alone. This is exactly why large companies like Apple and Google have resorted to encryption in order to protect the identities and personal information of its users' data. The only way that we will be able to trust our government is if they are transparent with us, the U.S. people, and do not constantly go behind our backs. The pure corruption that exists has become so overwhelming that it is nearly impossible to have any sort of healthy relationship with those who are supposed to be protecting us. It's time to start really looking around and realizing what is going on internally with the many agencies that exist through out our country.
According to Wired, Virginia police have been secretively stockpiling private phone records that have been collected. At least five police agencies in southeast Virginia have been collecting since 2012 and sharing with one another the information they find. Police would use a subpoena instead of a court order or probably-cause warrant to retrieve the information. The huge database contains individual phone calls, numbers dialed, time the calls were made and duration, and the contents of seized mobile devices. In relation to the article, which you can find here- http://www.wired.com/2014/10/virginia-police-secretively-stockpiling-private-phone-records/ - many of the US local governments have been contributing to various spying networks that give and receive thousands of bits of information a day.
Not only does the local governments seem to be corrupt with spying, but now also the Secret Service have become corrupt as well. According to the News Channel 5 Network, a Nashville police chief is accusing the Secret Service of misconduct. He says that local agents once asked his officers to fake a warrant to get into a man's home. The chief, Steve Anderson, said he complained to top Secret Service officials in Washington and they did not seem to care. In the Nashville case, a Secret Service agent made a frantic call after investigating threatening comments on Facebook a Nashville man made about the president. The resident refused to come outside and said "show me your warrant". So apparently one of the agents asked a police sergeant to wave a piece of paper in the air claiming that it was a warrant in order to dupe the resident.
Original Article link: http://www.jrn.com/newschannel5/news/newschannel-5-investigates/Police-Chief-Accuses-Secret-Service-Of-Misconduct-279207151.html?lc=Tablet&lc=Smart&wew=wdddd
This kind of behavior - faking warrants, illegally spying on citizens - is absolutely unconstitutional in the United States. How are citizens supposed to support and trust their government if they cannot even trust with that they will stay out of their privacy? Our country is based off of freedom of speech, press, and self-expression, but all of that is being compromised slowly by big brother, who apparently will not leave us alone. This is exactly why large companies like Apple and Google have resorted to encryption in order to protect the identities and personal information of its users' data. The only way that we will be able to trust our government is if they are transparent with us, the U.S. people, and do not constantly go behind our backs. The pure corruption that exists has become so overwhelming that it is nearly impossible to have any sort of healthy relationship with those who are supposed to be protecting us. It's time to start really looking around and realizing what is going on internally with the many agencies that exist through out our country.