Last week, in an I wrote an article about the assault on the Fourth Amendment by local law enforcement, I noted the intensity of various attacks on our constitutional rights from politicians, the media, and even the Pope. I also showed how a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll showed that nearly 7 out of 10 Americans favored surrendering the right to privacy to the government in order to be safe from terrorism.
Since the November elections, I’ve documented how the Republican-controlled Congress passed legislation giving power to Obama to usurp the 4th Amendments‘ right to protection against unreasonable search and seizure. In addition: I covered the Alabama state senator who wants to license the media, the federal judge who said the right to privacy was “overvalued” when he favored the NSA’s right to spy on Americans without a warrant, and how judicial tyranny has become the new normal.
Now the latest attack on the Constitution, this time from the Drug Enforcement Agency.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the government has created a huge database of the license plates and driving habits of Americans using a system originally formed to combat drugs, but has grown in size and scope. Now it’s being used to track down other “criminals.” Even state level law enforcement has been using the database.
The DEA says it’s completely legal, but there are those in Washington who aren’t so sure, including Democrats.
Noting that the practice “raises significant privacy concerns,” Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said that Americans shouldn’t have to worry “their locations and movements are constantly being tracked and stored in a massive database.”
And in another “I can’t believe I’m agreeing with them again” moment, the ACLU told the Journal that it’s “unconscionable that technology with such far-reaching potential would be deployed in such secrecy.”
Besides the numerous stories I mentioned above, this program is just one of many new domestic spying programs being used within the U.S. Some of the others:
- U.S. Marshals using devices on airplanes that mimic cellphone towers to gather cellphone data
- Police agencies are using “stingray” devices to capture cellphone data
- Fake cellphone towers sprinkle the country and have been used to capture cellphone data
It’s looking more like George Orwell’s 1984 every day.
