What you should be worried about is what YOUR dots will tell the government | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

Seriously dangerous times ahead. Deadly times. War, and censorship under the color of authority and under the pretext of national security

    Most people we know are not too concerned about the recent revelations that the U. S Government has been collecting billions of bits of information on them without have any particularized suspicion that those on whom they have collected the data had violated any laws. That is a violation of our fundamental rights as Americans, as guaranteed by our natural law right to be left alone if we have done nothing wrong and the Fourth Amendment prohibiting "general warrants" and requiring probable cause.

    Our neighbor summed up his concern by saying: "I have not done anything wrong so I'm not worried about it." Lord knows we hope he's right, but we don't think he is.

    Here's why. The government has collected billions and billions of bits of information on millions of us. They have stored it in huge databases that can be accessed at some future date for who knows what reason. That data can also be abused. We've seen that with the IRS.

    Legally, since 9-11-01 our government has piece by piece, bit by bit shifted our legal standards to allow warrantless searches where they had reason to believe (at some level, even just minimal suspicion) that a threat existed. In other words, the standard now has become essentially "if the ends justify the means" then the government is going to ignore our Fourth Amendment rights. We have thus traded liberty for "security."

    And there are some real issue about just how much security we have obtained for the loss of our liberties to have our privacy infringed by warrantless searches and seizures. But that's really not the worst of it.

    There is already speculation that Chief Justice John Roberts may have been a target of blackmail as a result of information NSA has obtained on him. While that is speculative, what is not speculative is that the NSA has the ability to snoop not only on terrorists and criminals but on government officials as well. And given the obvious fact that literally thousands of NSA employees have access to these data, it is reasonable to assume that some among them have used it in an inappropriate way. Clearly a lot of money can be made or lost if government decisions are impacted by these data. It is therefore reasonable to assume that it is not a matter of "if" but when all this data on government decision-makers will be abused. Information is power. And power corrupts...

    Yet another bad thing about all this snooping the government is doing on us is how they might choose to use it someday. Our fear is that they are making lists of people who they viewed as being dissidents and given the right provocation that they will round up those people on the lists and who know what they will do to us.

    Beyond that, the danger in all this information they are storing on us it that it is not secure. We already know that the government makes some of it available individuals and companies from whom we have no protection against their misusing it. And of course, there is the issue of identity theft. The dots that connect to "us" may not be ours in the first place but someone who has used our identity to do bad things, for which we will have to prove we are innocent. And that could cost us thousands of dollars, as well as loss of our liberty.

    Moreover, we have a very real fear that the dots will be connected to us from those with whom we have had some contact, even as innocent as a wrong number dialed or a visit to a website, which will connect us to bad people and we will be judged guilty by association. We already know that is a prime use they make of this data. They assess who the bad guys have had contact with, even if the dots connected to them are completely innocent.

    Identify theft is the fastest growing form of crime today. What many people do not realize is that the government's obsession for snooping is a major cause of identity theft. The government has required internet service providers and software developers to build in "back doors" that allow government snoops to access our data. But that also allow hackers, even terrorist hackers, to steal our information and even to plant information within our data. It would be naive for any American to assume that some terrorist organization has not hacked into their information and is not, or will not someday, use their accounts and information to hide their tracks from the NSA. In other words, the government has made it easy for Americans to be the victims of a setup by bad people. Think about that when you hear some politician claim that all this snooping "makes us safer."

    This is really scary stuff when you stop and think about it.

    We have no doubt that those of us at the Beaufort Observer are on that list. We have indeed been very critical of the government. And we will continue to "speak truth to power." They may shut us down but they will not shut us up. And if they "come for us" we will not go quietly as those in the Holocaust and in Russia did.

    We also have no doubt that millions of Americans are in those databases and that one of these days, if things are not turned around, that something will provoke some government agent to "connect the dots" between somebody and something that those Americans knew nothing about but who will be pulled into the data sweep even though they have not violated any laws. The dots will simply lead to them. And for that there will be a knock on their door or a blue light in their rearview mirror.

    So our neighbor is wrong. Very wrong. He does have much to worry about even though he knows he has not willfully violated any law. It's the dots he - any YOU--should be worried about. Doug Hagman, writing at Canada Free Press breaks it all down for us.

    Click here to read the story. And we would urge you to get down on your knees and pray to God to give you wisdom and courage to do what you should do when your dots get connected.

    So what should be done about all this? The answer is simple: Return to the Founding Principles and specifically to the original intent of the Fourth Amendment. General warrants should be strictly prohibited within and on Americans in America. The retention of any data collected on an American in this country should be destroyed within 24 hours. If not the person knowledgeable of the data should be held accountable both criminally and personally civilly liable as well as their superiors. Remember, the Fourth Amendment does not prohibit reasonable searches with a search warrant. But that approval should come from a judicial official and a compilation of data that shows which judges have approved what kind of warrants should be available after the threat has been dealt with.

    Section 1021 and 1022 should be repealed immediately.

    The Department of Homeland Security should be abolished. It is a massive agency now that spends entirely too much money for the "security" Americans get from it. In fact, the DHS is more of a threat to our liberties than any terrorist organization in the world. The cure is definitely worse than the disease with the DHS. Congress should immediately cut its budget in half and repeat the process the next year and each succeeding year until it is brought back in line. But we would prefer to abolish it simply to disperse the power that has now been concentrated in a central operator.

Our borders should be closed to prevent unauthorized people from entering the country>

    The Posse Comitatus Act should be reinstated. All military officials should be prohibited from enforcing criminal laws. Period. End of story.

    The N. C. Legislature should, before it adjourns this session, tell Congress to either rein in the DHS, prohibit NSA from spying on Americans and prohibit the Defense Department from law enforcement activities within the U. S. boundaries or North Carolina will lead the way in calling for a Constitutional Convention to address the failures of Congress to protect the inalienable rights of Americans and honor the Founding Principles of our Constitution.

    Nothing else is more important for Congress to do than restore constitutional government in America. Nothing.