Das Überwachenden has been BUSY lately. Here are two stories you might have missed if you blinked.
This first story surprised me not at all.
Intelligence centers run by states across the country have access to personal information about millions of Americans, including unlisted cellphone numbers, insurance claims, driver's license photographs and credit reports, according to a document obtained by The Washington Post.Uh huh. All of that stuff that was implemented after 9-11 that was supposed to protect us? HA HA HA HA!!!!! To protect us! That's SO rich!
The centers have been criticized for being secretive, but authorities said that this is largely for security reasons. Activists want to know more about their activities, the kinds of information they collect and how the information is being used.Don't hold your breath.
This story describes how the military gets around limits on its ability to gather intelligence on US nationals.
The military is using the FBI to skirt legal restrictions on domestic surveillance to obtain private records of Americans' Internet service providers, financial institutions and telephone companies, the ACLU said Tuesday.It's really quite enlightening. There's always a rational, an excuse. It's only DoD employees, after all. Yeah...and what if YOU were a DoD employee? How would YOU feel about that?
Liberty doesn't mean freedom when the country is free of external threats. Liberty means freedom EVEN WHEN there are pressing external threats. That's what it is so odious when those who are pledged to protect our liberties engage in these kinds of activities. They've completely lost their compass. They've become that which our founding fathers sought to protect us against.
