Who Else is Concerned about all this Data Collection by the Federal Government?

Once all these stories popped up about the Utah data center, the handing over of access to files by Verizon, Microsoft, drones everywhere, et al, I started thinking about it.  Up 'til then, I took solace in the fact that large bureaucracies seemed to have trouble doing much of anything right, let alone spy on any and all Americans.  Then it started to sink in--a lot of what you dream about happening in the future is technologically possible, it's just usually too expensive to implement. But with technology getting cheaper every day, one day it will be feasible to do.  Like connect all your credit card transactions with your captured photos of your license plates and track you with your cell phone, to linking up your emails and your phone calls (did you know digital phone calls allow for easy searching for certain words where the old analog phones didn't?).

So then just recently I read a novel by Brad Thor called Black List.  It tied together a lot of these themes...it didn't have government go corrupt, but it was close. And in the epilogue the President jots down on a notepad three legislative issues he wants addressed ASAP:

"1. A state of national emergency could last for only one year. Any period beyond that would need approval by a two-thirds vote of Congress.

2. All warrantless surveillance of American citizens was to be terminated immediately. Going forward, it would be a capital offense to surveil American citizens [by government] without proper judicial review and written authorization.

3. In order to curb insider trading, all members of Congress, as well as all federal employees who work in the defense, technology, and intelligence sectors of government, were to be prohibited from investing the stock market. "

The third item was created to prevent a section of the government amassing money "off the grid" that could be then be used to assist in the implementation of a takeover.

Given some of the scary stuff FISA allows, I'd like to see #1 happen right away, and then not allow FISA warrants unless it's a state of national emergency.


Pretty good advice. Let's get started.