Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny
We live in America. Free from fear of tyranny of the police state. Imbued with certain rights and legal safeguards protecting us from the abuse of authority. Or so we thought...
Congressman Ed Markey
July 9, 2012 - Congressman releases first-ever accounting of responses from wireless carriers that indicate sweeping personal data requests from law enforcement agencies.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In the first-ever accounting of its kind, Congressman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass) has found that in 2011, federal, state and local law enforcement agencies made more than 1.3 million requests of wireless carriers for the cell phone records of consumers, and that number is increasing every year. Last month, Rep. Markey queried nine mobile wireless carriers about their policies and practices for sharing their customers’ mobile phone information with law enforcement agencies after a report in the New York Times reported that law enforcement was routinely requesting consumers cell phone records, sometimes with little judicial oversight and no consumer knowledge. The responses received by Rep. Markey were startling in the volume and scope of requests made by law enforcement, including requests for “cell tower dumps” in which carriers provide all the phones numbers of cell users that connect with a tower during a discreet period of time, including information on innocent people. According to the carriers, all requests were made pursuant to a legal warrant or granted due to an emergency situation in which an individual was in imminent danger.
"We cannot allow privacy protections to be swept aside with the sweeping nature of these information requests, especially for innocent consumers,” said Rep. Markey, senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and co-Chair of the Congressional Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus. “Law enforcement agencies are looking for a needle, but what are they doing with the haystack? We need to know how law enforcement differentiates between records of innocent people, and those that are subjects of investigation, as well as how it handles, administers, and disposes of this information.” {Read More}
Whether liberal or conservative, republican or democrat, independent or libertarian this should send chills up your spine. We should all be thankful for Congressman Markey's publication of this information. In the aftermath of 911, the subsequent enactment of the Patriot Act and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, we are, as some warned losing our right to privacy and perhaps the protection of this right under our laws.
The slippery slope GWB put the nation on will continue to get more slippery as Leviathan finds new and ever more intrusive ways to monitor the activities of the citizens of the nation. Which of course ultimately leads to more control and a further loss of liberties.
George Oswell's 1984 is arriving in America. Albeit a bit later than he had imagined. The question is; will we stand for any further erosion of our rights?
Via: Memeorandum
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