.

NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Monday, October 1, 2012

A 64% increase in Federal spying on Americans




A Bi-Partisan Police State  -  Both political parties vote to authorize and fund the endless Big Brother spying on American citizens.



Police State  -  The Justice Department's use of electronic devices to intercept phone numbers, email addresses and online information has climbed by 64 percent since 2009, according to a study of records released under the Freedom of Information Act.

Government data shows that from 2009 to 2011, the combined number of court orders for so-called pen registers and trap and trace devices on phones rose from 23,535 in 2009 to 37,616 in 2011, according to the American Civil Liberties Union from data in a FOIA request.

The Washington Guardian reports though used far less frequently, the combined number of court orders targeting individuals' email and network communications data rose from 360 in 2009 to 1,661 through the end of 2011. When combined, the total intercepts represent a 64 percent increase.




BIG BROTHER:  Trapwire surveillance spying on the public
It's been revealed that the U.S. government is secretly spying on its citizens using an advanced surveillance programme. Software called TrapWire allegedly has access to all security cameras across the country.

Documents from the US Department of Homeland Security show that it paid $832,000 to deploy Trapwire in Washington DC and Seattle.  So-called "private" companies are gathering the information for Big Brother in order to avoid the 4th Amendment and the Bill of Rights.




A pen register records all numbers dialed from a particular telephone line. A trap-and-trace device records the telephone numbers of inbound callers to a suspected criminal telephone.

"In every instance cited here, a federal judge authorized the law enforcement activity," Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said.

The standard for obtaining a court order for such surveillance requires that the information sought is relevant to an investigation. That standard is far less than the law requires to obtain a warrant to conduct a physical search: probable cause to believe a crime has been committed.

An ACLU staff attorney, Catherine Crump, said the process for these less intrusive warrants is a "rubber stamp" devoid of any kind of meaningful court review.
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(Washington Guardian)





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