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That’s what the civil libertarians should be worried about: A government that knows where you are at all times, and has an indelible record of everywhere you’ve ever been, and everything you’ve ever done in any public space. It’s claimed that most Americans commit “three felonies a day” thanks to overbroad statutes. Even if that’s not true, there’s little doubt that with so much on record, there will always be a way to persecute if not prosecute anyone who isn’t a saint. Everyone will be guilty of something, so the powers that be can simply selectively enforce the laws against the people they don’t like.
The national-security conservatives who claim to be worried about terrorism should really be worried that their attempts to protect their nation are in fact damaging it; that their quest for security, and their war on leaks, have begun to slowly corrupt their democracies into police states.
I know, I know, tinfoil hat. And yet: “unfortunately in the past decade the United States has moved toward police-stateness in small but key ways.” It’s crucially important to realize that today’s technologies make it much easier to build the infrastructure of a police state, and tomorrow’s will make it easier yet — and once those tools are in place, whatever their original intent may have been, someone will seize them and abuse them.
(Of course, many people who claim they’re worried about crime and terrorism are being disingenuous and actually do want much less in the way of freedoms and liberties, and much more in the way of authoritarian control and draconian laws. Not surprisingly the police often fail to see what the problem with a police state is exactly. What, don’t we trust them?) Full story...
Related posts:
That’s what the civil libertarians should be worried about: A government that knows where you are at all times, and has an indelible record of everywhere you’ve ever been, and everything you’ve ever done in any public space. It’s claimed that most Americans commit “three felonies a day” thanks to overbroad statutes. Even if that’s not true, there’s little doubt that with so much on record, there will always be a way to persecute if not prosecute anyone who isn’t a saint. Everyone will be guilty of something, so the powers that be can simply selectively enforce the laws against the people they don’t like.
The national-security conservatives who claim to be worried about terrorism should really be worried that their attempts to protect their nation are in fact damaging it; that their quest for security, and their war on leaks, have begun to slowly corrupt their democracies into police states.
I know, I know, tinfoil hat. And yet: “unfortunately in the past decade the United States has moved toward police-stateness in small but key ways.” It’s crucially important to realize that today’s technologies make it much easier to build the infrastructure of a police state, and tomorrow’s will make it easier yet — and once those tools are in place, whatever their original intent may have been, someone will seize them and abuse them.
(Of course, many people who claim they’re worried about crime and terrorism are being disingenuous and actually do want much less in the way of freedoms and liberties, and much more in the way of authoritarian control and draconian laws. Not surprisingly the police often fail to see what the problem with a police state is exactly. What, don’t we trust them?) Full story...
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