It is Big Brother!
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http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=16862
I wasn’t opposed to the NSA wire-tapping. I don’t believe the judicial branch of the government should be the ‘be all, end all’ of any decisions the government needs to make to protect the citizens of the United States.
But… the collecting of domestic phone call databases by the NSA is not an acceptable program. Imagine if the government followed you around all year. But they didn’t know your name or personal information… they were simply monitoring where you were moving about to ensure you weren’t going to places that they deemed potentially bad. Would you be opposed to that? I would!
The government is of the people, for the people and elected by the people. When the tables turn and the government is not spying ‘on the people’, it’s a huge threat to our democracy and freedom. Ironically, those are the very things we are supposed to be defending in the war on terror.
Let’s look at this a different way. It’s generally well known that some terrorism is funded by illegal drugs. I’ve even seen public service announcements that push that message. Let’s connect the dots … terrorist to drugs, drugs to illegal smugglers, illegal smugglers to drug dealers, drug dealers to drug users, drug users to families, friends, businesses, etc.
Do you have a friend that utilizes illegal drugs? Ever talk to them on the phone? It may be a stretch, but if the government tracks back phone call information through the domestic phone call database, isn’t there the chance that you could find yourself under surveillance or investigation? That’s the slippery slope we’re conceding if we let this program continue.
Our freedom and democracy is our largest weapon against terrorism. And it’s at the very core of what terrorists would like to take from us. Let us not allow our own government to tarnish the very freedoms it’s supposed to be upholding.
