Note: This first appeared in Red State.
The more digital our lives become, the easier it is for government to access and accumulate our data. Big Government advocates much prefer electronic files to millions of disparate hard copies in millions of personal filing cabinets.
Congress must write good laws establishing delimited parameters for what the government can and can’t have – consistent with the Fourth Amendment.
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.
Our data has long been in private hands. We have voluntarily given it to all sorts of private entities – including our Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and cell phone companies. And they have handled it with near flawless precision.
Our data must remain in private hands. Unless the government convinces a judge otherwise on a specific, case by case basis – in which case they are issued a warrant to acquire specific, delineated data.
Because Congress in many areas hasn’t yet addressed the gaping hole of protecting our data from Big Government, we are left exposed and subject to hay-yuge, illegal power grabs.
Like President Barack Obama’s illegal Network Neutrality order. Which gives the government access to the Internet’s spine – and with it every website there is and all the data contained therein. And Big Government proponents promise us this is only the beginning:
“Although we wished the (Net Neutrality order) could have been stronger, we believe that the rules approved by the Commission are a good start….”
Like President Barack Obama’s illegal Cyber Security Executive Order. The amount of data compiled in Cyber Security execution is massive – and Big Government wants at it.
Part of the reason lawmakers have not passed even voluntary cyber reforms is that businesses and many Republicans fear optional measures eventually could become mandatory.
The executive order did not allay those fears… (T)he Republican head of the House Homeland Security Committee expressed misgivings about the policy’s potential for mission creep.
Another “good start” towards ever growing Big Government grabs.
A privacy section in the documents outlines steps agencies must take to protect personal information while carrying out these activities. When private sector information is collected and shared with the government, concerns often arise that customer information will be exposed or abused.
Like the Obama Administration shutting down bailed out car company dealerships based upon campaig.... Like local governments in New York turning over for publication gun registration data. Like then-President and First Lady Bill and Hillary Clinton’s illegally obtained 900 FBI files getting him out of an impeachment conviction.
President Obama’s unlawful Cyber Security Order is allegedly “voluntary.” But:
Within three months, DHS, the General Services Administration and the Pentagon are expected to weigh the merits of denying federal contracts to vendors that do not sign up for the program….
Starting to sound pretty mandatory to me. This President is in fact endlessly creative in coming up with data abuses and illegal fiats.
President Obama is considering an executive order that would force government contractors to disclose their donations to groups that participate in political activities….
Big Government strives inexorably to get bigger. The huge new frontier in continuing the conversion of we citizens into subjects is all things digital – including the Web and our electronic data.
Congress must stand in opposition to this President’s illegal data grabs. And write law that defines in limited, Constitutional fashion to what the government has access.
Comment
Comment by Richie Laxton on February 23, 2013 at 3:19am This story appeared on CNS News yesterday:
13,753 Gov’t Requests for Google E-Mail Data in 2012, Most Without a Warrant
Federal law says that opened email stored remotely – not on a computer’s hard drive – can be accessed without a warrant.
By Matt Cover
(CNSNews.com) - American government agencies – state, local, and federal -- made a record 13,753 requests to read emails or gather other information sent through Google’s Gmail and other services in 2012, more than half without warrants, according to statistics released by Google.
The total number of users about whom government agencies wanted information also set a record at 31,072, up from 23,300 in 2011, the first year Google began reporting the data. The discrepancy comes because government agencies request information on multiple users or accounts at the same time.
Most of these 13,753 requests, 6,542 of 8,438 in the latter half of 2012 alone, were done without a search warrant, Google data show. Google did not make available any detailed data prior to June 2012, nor did it make available which requests came from the federal government and which came from state or local law enforcement agencies, when asked by CNSNews.com.
Google spokesman Chris Gaither said the company only started tracking which type of legal authority – subpoena, court order, or search warrant – was used in the latter half of 2012. Google issues biannual reports on the requests for user data it receives from government agencies from around the world, including ones in the U.S.
Google announced in June 2012 that it had 425 million active Gmail subscribers, making it the largest e-mail provider in the world. It also provides users the ability to store documents via its Google Drive service, phone service via Google Voice, YouTube, personal blogs via Blogger, as well as email hosting services for corporate clients through Gmail.
Google keeps records of all email and other communication sent through its e-mail, telephone, YouTube, and other services, storing the information on cloud servers – a move that allows government agencies, local, state, and federal, to access some information without a warrant.
Via the excuse of third party data storing technologies, our government and law enforcement agencies are trampling the 4th Amendment. And, huge internet giants like Google cow-tow to the government and don't stand up against them. Of course, many like Google are selling your personal info and data, without your permission, to all sorts of marketing firms.
Comment by Dwight M. Schmitz on February 20, 2013 at 11:50pm While I got some disagreement, I still maintain that, after the Bush-Gore fiasco of 2000, the feds making elections digital was the best thing that could have happened for those who are looking to steal elections. Data gets passed along several different networks and in any step along the way the data can be intercepted and manipulated before it gets passed on to the next step. As tight s they may think their security is, it is still vulnerable to hacking. Why else would anti-virus companies be constantly updating their virus databases? Every time a new virus is detected and guarded against, someone comes along with something new to defeat security. If government gets open access to your data, it can then do anything they want with your personal info. It would be nice if we could assume if everyone handling your data was a person of the highest integrity. But, you know what happens when you assume. More and more, integrity is becoming the exception, not the rule.
Comment by Paul Artz on February 20, 2013 at 11:13am America must change
We, the America people, have a very serious problem in our economy and our nation. We’re going to have to change our attitudes and face some hard realities. Number one: We are the people (each of us) responsible for our country!!!!! In any civilization, past present or future, under any form of government, republic, dictator, king, bureaucracy or congress there is only one person responsible and you can meet that person when you look in the minor. When we abrogate our responsibilies to any form of government that government will eventually make use their slaves. Number two: You cannot turn a sex maniac loose in a whore house with a credit card. We in the United States have turned loose our congress, presidency, the fed and bureaucracy with our credit card. We have got to take that credit card back or we will never right our economy or our nation. Number three!! Government is not God; it only thinks it is God. Government is a tool a people of a nation use to do those activities that we can do more efficiently and effectively, collectively then we can do individually. Four: Bankruptcy is on its way!!!! Our Federal debt including all unfunded obligations exceeds the net worth of the USA. We have spent 60 years creating this debt, if you think our children are going to spend their lives paying it off, your nuts. Five: We have no leadership in America today. We have a President that is a lost dog in tall grass, a congress that is brought and paid for by vested interests. (Many of the lobbyists are foreign countries.) and a federal reserve that is a Ponzi scheme. It is up to us, we must solve the problem.
We have got to change our Constitution in a way that power is taken away from Government and makes the America people directly responsible.
1. Taxes must be taken off of everything except final consumption. When a family goes to the grocery store and buys $100 in groceries and the checker add $30.00 for federal tax, $25.00 for state tax $5.00 for local taxes and $40.00 to pay off the debt, the crap will come out of the heads of the America people about the cost of Government. Also, no person or item is exempted, everyone pays. Americans will be ready to fight back with gusto!!!!
2. Take away the power of Congress to pass legislation. All legislation (bills) must come before the people to be approved or disapproved. We have the communications capacity via the internet, etc. to do this. Furthermore, all bills must be broken down by item and a cost must be accessed to each item. We need line item voting power. The bill must be written in understandable English!!
3. Any person or group, who can obtain 3% of the registered voter’s signatures, can design and/or present a bill (legislation) to congress. . Congress must debate, approve or disapprove legislation; however, again the people must approve or disapprove the legislation.
4. We need an accounting system that is as accurate as possible, so Americans know where their tax money is going and can make decisions.
With these new Constitutional tools, there will be 320 million Americans who will decide what they want to spend their dollars on. The American people will cut government spending by 35% and increase the productive of our tax dollars and economy by 400%. Our government and our nation would be changed forever. This recession and federal debt maybe a great blessing, in that we will advance our democracy, freedoms and life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Or become slaves to our government. There is no way the United States Congress is going to solve this Debt problem.The American people are going to have to do it themselves. We are going to have to change our Constitution. There is no other way.
Comment by John Brunner on February 20, 2013 at 9:59am Congress is part of Big Government. Expect them at this stage to limit Big Government is like asking the wind to stop blowing. We must take direction from an earlier Blog posted here and get "in the faces" of our representatives and demand that they limit governments powers or we will find reps who will! This issue is as big as the 2nd amendment issue facing us now too. While we are at it we MUST find a way to strip our representatives of their self given right to a retirement.
Comment by Volunteer Patriot on February 20, 2013 at 9:50am 
Comment by Thomas Angle on February 20, 2013 at 9:46am If you want to keep it secret keep it off the internet. If yo have to do it on the internet, encrypt it. Truecrypt is a nice application for that.
Comment by Debrajoe Smith-Beatty on February 20, 2013 at 9:33am I do not ever refer to Obama as President. He is a disgrace to that office.
© 2013 Created by Judson Phillips.
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