Unfortunately, all three branches of government-the legislatures, courts and executive offices-have given the police state all kinds of leeway when it comes to sidestepping the Fourth Amendment.Īs a result, on a daily basis, Americans are already being made to relinquish the most intimate details of who we are-our biological makeup, our genetic blueprints, and our biometrics (facial characteristics and structure, fingerprints, iris scans, etc.)-in order to clear the nearly insurmountable hurdle that increasingly defines life in the United States: we are now guilty until proven innocent. Those extenuating circumstances are spelled out clearly: government officials must have probable cause that criminal activity is afoot (a higher legal standard than “reasonable suspicion”), which is required by the Constitution before any government official can search an individual or his property. It keeps the government out of our private business except in certain, extenuating circumstances. The Fourth Amendment was intended to serve as a protective forcefield around our persons, our property, our activities, our communications and our movements. government is allowed to shred the Constitution. Indeed, America will never be safe as long as the U.S. Surveillance, digital stalking and the data mining of the American people-weapons of compliance and control in the government’s hands-haven’t made America any safer, and they certainly aren’t helping to preserve our freedoms. It’s a program ripe for abuse, and you can bet it’s getting abused. Those who have received training on the program reportedly include postal workers, prison officials, highway patrol officers, border cops, and the National Guard. It’s not just law enforcement agencies investigating drug crimes who are using Hemisphere to sidestep the Fourth Amendment, either. More than a trillion domestic phone records are mined through this mass surveillance program every year, warrantlessly targeting not only those suspected of criminal activity but anyone with whom they might have contact, including spouses, children, parents, and friends. This is how the government routinely breaks the law and gets away with it: in the so-called name of national security. According to Senator Ron Wyden, Hemisphere has been operating without any oversight for more than a decade under the guise of cracking down on drug traffickers.
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