Update To - "Our Acclimation to Surveillance & Privacy Intrusion - A Retractable Surveillance Network?"

The Original "Our Acclimation to Surveillance & Privacy Intrusion - A Retractable Surveillance Network"

The above article was posted only 6 months after 9-11. Because of it's apparent popularity today I'am updating it. And so......where are we now?

I posted this article about 15 years ago in the aftermath of 9-11 seeing right away that the nation was moving headlong into dangerous territory relative to public surveillance. I knew once we headed down this path it would be hard to dial back on expanding surveillance of the population. The security apparatus of the U.S. has always wanted this and the conservative right-wing element of the political spectrum has long pushed for this. When they got the opportunity they locked onto it alligator style and have not let go since. 

When you saw Edward Snowden come out with serious revelations about the degree to which our spy agencies had expanded those surveillance operations into the domestic realm it was clear those fears and concerns about a retractable surveillance state were founded. What is clear now is that the security state does not want to be retracted. In the face of those Snowden revelations the U.S. Congress tried to pass a "Freedom Act" to stop this expanded surveillance  and fell short and when they tried it again after much "media" hype over increased terrorist activity the congress was only able to pass a deflated watered down "Freedom Act" that essentially leaves our expanding global security state intact and our domestic security state, which was the main purpose of the "Freedom Act", only slightly curtailed if at all. 

We overreacted to a terrorist attack and that overreaction has not been checked but has been expanded and this is a trait of a fascist tendency in government putting safety and security over hard fought for privacy rights and freedoms. It is always hard to build it up but always easy to bring it down taking the easy and "safe" path where congressmen put themselves over the nation using fear for political reasons to get elected. 

 Concern for an actual physical terrorist attack is clearly over hyped but concern about cyber related attacks are not. We may be in a fight for our lives in the cyber arena but the justification for increased surveillance based on terrorist bombings is far over blown. It is reasonable to assume the expansion in surveillance activities has been based all along on the cyber aspect as opposed to the terrorist bombing aspect using the latter as the excuse for the purpose of not alarming the public of how serious the cyber threat was relative to our vulnerability. 

The 9-11 attack opportunistically opened the door for us to be able to expand our surveillance activities to defend against the cyber threat and some even believe 9-11 was allowed to occur for that purpose. Allowed and planned are two very different bad paths but the beneficial outcome is essentially the same and so now we are at the future, 2017. 

When we had relatively responsible people in government that were able to exercise some incisive intelligence we could more so depend on them to handle all this with the highest regard to the U.S. Constitution but that darker regime that I once talked about is potentially here. It is to say the least, very bad timing, but that may not be the case if this test results in us soon as opposed to later being more diligent protecting our hard fought for privacy rights and freedoms. The sooner we can fortify or create more laws protecting our privacy and freedoms the better. The later we wait the harder and more entrenched system traits become. 

 We are potentially at a serious crossroads and it is not now certain how this test will turn out. The checks and balances of our republic are under test and at the moment are under stress unlike we have experienced since the Richard Nixon presidency. The difference is the Nixon White house should have been smart enough to know when enough was enough and it contained staff that did and ultimately acted.

There is no apparent "intelligence" operating in the White house at this time except for that which is necessary to appoint personnel and approve legislation favorable to Wall Street and it is very possible that those that are there under this present president may not be able to say no to the chief executive or even believe he would be wrong. 
His love of loyalty causes those under his influence to fawn and feign his approval which is an embarrassment to this nation and it's heritage. 
Unfortunately this president is essentially a egocentric loudmouthed bully billionaire real estate/casino owning president with highly questionable morals and little regard for truth and the principles U.S. leadership requires. The emphasis here probably should be put on the truth and this president's disdain for it. We are now at a crossroads. 

Donald Trump was elected in an election flurry and his full throated support of U.S. spy agencies spying on U.S. citizens as they were and as they are expanding was not highly publicized but known.

He complains about being spied on by U.S. agencies but who knows what he would do or how he would feel about it should it come up again and he have the chance to sign a bill putting checks on surveillance of U.S. citizens.  

Trump's right-wing streak has been well kept in tact so there is no real reason to hope the security surveillance state will be checked or curtailed during his tenure. He has very little of the kind of intelligence necessary to foresee a threat from a pervasive and expanding surveillance state. He sees the hear and now, what feels good to him here and now, the narcissist. 

In conclusion: We need the means to detect and prevent any nationally disabling cyber-attack but we must for the sake of the republic and it's future and the future of it's citizens be able to know where to draw the line on surveillance of the U.S. population. 

As I wrote before, this is principally based on the possibility of turnkey tyranny under a future dark regime and this last election should fully awaken us to that threat and let's hope it is also a wake-up call to those with the deepest regard for the continuation of our nation's environment of freedom as we have known it.

Are you ready for the future? It would be a good time to pray.