Surveillance State
The creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the passage of the Patriot gave our government the authority to gather our data and spy on us without warrants. Warrantless searches were one of the foundational grievances which sparked the American Revolution. These arbitrary intrusions into homes and businesses taught the colonists that the power to inspect is also the power to control. The Fourth Amendment was crafted precisely to stop such abuses. Today’s equivalent is the network of Flock cameras, automated license plate readers and other monitoring systems which record movements and conversations. These tools create a permanent record of where, when and with whom every citizen travels. The only reason to expand these systems is the intent to hold greater power over the people.
People who cannot speak or move freely without constant tracking are not free; they are managed. The claim, “if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear” is a phrase used by governments who want to watch everyone. This assertion pretends that only the guilty suffer under mass surveillance. In reality, a rapidly expanding surveillance state shifts power from the people to those who control the data. Our privacy must remain an inherent and fundamental right if we hope to remain sovereign. When our government and corporations demonstrate zero trust in us, then we have every reason to withhold trust in return.
Flock Cameras
Systems like Flock Safety and other automated license plate readers are a modern version of the warrants which outraged American colonists. Through these networks, our movements are monitored and shared with government agencies. The result is a surveillance grid that tracks every single person in the country. Once these cameras and databases are in place, the justification for using them will quickly expand from solving crimes to arbitrary enforcement of government regulations. This will allow the surveillance state to grow under the cover “public safety.” We demand all agreements which enable the warrantless monitoring of citizens be ended immediately.
Data Centers
Data centers enable governments and corporations to further shape behavior while providing few tangible benefits. These projects should be subject to public referendums and local votes rather than a simple approval made by unelected commissions. If data centers are approved by a local population, developers must first disclose the full environmental cost (water consumption, energy demand, and emissions) before any ground is broken. Construction of these data centers, without robust local debate and consent of the people, only accelerates the growth of the surveillance state. As free people, we must not accept the physical and digital infrastructure of our own surveillance.
Government Transparency
Classification is the justification our government uses to withhold information from the people. Bureaucrats claim that telling us classified information would somehow make us less safe. The real reason information remains classified is to give the people running this country the ability to act with impunity. Classification hides failures, corruption, abuses of power and decisions that would never survive public scrutiny. It also removes the ability of average citizens to hold our leaders accountable. If we are to return to a free society, we must demand ownership of these documents.
Over time, government secrecy and classification has produced a two-tier system of justice which is antithetical to a free society. We demand the complete and unredacted release of all files related to the September 11 attacks, the Kennedy assassinations and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. This also applies to the broader body of secrets our government continues to guard. These are pivotal events which forever changed the relationship between the government and the American people. Continuing to withhold these records is itself an admittal of culpability.