Posts Tagged ‘state’
GPS bugging is surveillance, plain and simple.
Posted by Benjamin J. Thompson | Filed under Liberty, News
It must never enter the minds of judges that state power could ever be used unjustly. A court in Wisconsin just upheld the power of the police to track someone by bugging their car with a GPS transmitter. There is a glimmer of hope in that “District 4 Court of Appeals said it was “more than a little troubled” by that conclusion and asked Wisconsin lawmakers to regulate GPS use to protect against abuse by police and private individuals.”
The Fourth Amendment states: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
It doesn’t specifically talk about surveillance, but the spirit of this law is self-evident. To clarify how we should understand this Amendment, here’s the Ninth Amendment: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
In short, the government has no right to invade your life unless they have a specific, rational, and peer-reviewed reason for doing so. I’m not even suggesting GPS bugging shouldn’t be used, but it is an unnecessary tool. Suspects in a violent crime investigation should expect to be followed, and in such cases the use of a tool like this might be understandable.
Where you go and how long you’re there falls into the same category of things as your person, papers and effects. It’s part of you and who you are. You don’t have a right to total privacy in public, but no one has the right to alter or trespass on your property (like your car) in order to track and watch you. If they want to follow you, they should have to do it on their own time.
The biggest danger this police power poses is to innocent people who participate in non-violent, victimless acts which have been criminalized, like the many vices which do not enjoy the same government sanction as tobacco and alcohol. The War on Drugs can only be enforced through the trampling of privacy rights, and this is just one more such step.
The second danger is to innocent people who obey all the laws, even the unjust ones, but happen to find themselves on a police officer’s bad side. It is a wide-open door for endless harassment and abuse of minorities and out-of-favor social groups.
If someone is accused of harming another person, and there is evidence to support this accusation, then maybe GPS bugging with a warrant could be rationalized. There is no rationale for warrantless spying.
Oh, so CUBA is a totalitarian police state!
Posted by Benjamin J. Thompson | Filed under Liberty
According to the State Department: Cuba is a totalitarian police state which relies on repressive methods to maintain control. These methods, including intense physical and electronic surveillance of Cubans, are also extended to foreign travelers. Americans visiting Cuba should be aware that any encounter with a Cuban could be subject to surreptitious scrutiny by the Castro regime’s secret police. Also, any interactions with average Cubans, regardless of how well intentioned the American may be, can subject that Cuban to harassment and/or detention, and other forms of repressive actions, by state security elements.
The very next section goes on to name all the repressive restrictions the US has on travel to and from Cuba. This includes the policy that Americans cannot travel from the US to Cuba unless they are doing so for a few specific purposes, only with government permission, and only if they subject themselves to government scrutiny.
Shall I also mention that “free” Americans cannot board a plane without submitting to varying degrees of strip searches by government bureaucrats and producing government-approved forms of identification? That harmless people are harassed and detained by the TSA Gestapo for the heinous crime of having a common name, or a name that matches one of the millions on the the recklessly assembled no-fly-list?
And they have the nerve to call another country a totalitarian police state.
We’re living in some kind of an Orwellian parody.