by: Nicholas Morpus
When Edward Snowden brought government surveillance to the forefront of the political discussion we learned the extent of how far the government spying apparatus can reach. Unfortunately what we learned only applied to the NSA.
Recently, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) uncovered in a series of FOIA requests that certain information tracking and gathering doesn’t end with the NSA. It extends to departments and agencies such as the Department of Justice, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. These three agencies have been found to be tracking and recording your license plate information by utilizing automatic license plate readers.
Their report, aptly named “You Are Being Tracked” offered startling insight into the methods used by these agencies to keep tabs on Americans who are simply commuting about their daily lives. This type of behavior wildly reshapes the outlook on just how much privacy you truly have within your day-to-day life, which according to recent information includes broadly tracking those who attend specific gun shows.
“The April 2009 email states that “DEA Phoenix Division Office is working closely with ATF on attacking the guns going to [redacted] and the gun shows, to include programs/operation with LPRs at the gun shows.” The government redacted the rest of the email, but when we received this document we concluded that these agencies used license plate readers to collect information about law-abiding citizens attending gun shows. An automatic license plate reader cannot distinguish between people transporting illegal guns and those transporting legal guns, or no guns at all; it only documents the presence of any car driving to the event. Mere attendance at a gun show, it appeared, would have been enough to have one’s presence noted in a DEA database.”
Whenever the debate of privacy vs. surveillance rears its head, it is quite common to hear the frequently recited Benjamin Franklin quote “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
The question is: If we are a nation of liberty as we claim to be, when will we as a country, draw the line between liberty and supposed security that we are promised when the apparatus of surveillance has been thrust upon us?
Granted, there have been fights put up by those who value our liberty, such as the Amash Amendment offered by libertarian-minded Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI). This would have substantially limited and curbed the broad reach of the NSA to peruse into our daily online lives and phone records. But like most substantial changes to the status quo, it was defeated and replaced with a watered down legislative monstrosity known as the “USA Freedom Act,” which Amash ended up opposing.
Despite a majority of Americans opposing their privacy being invaded and violated by the U.S. surveillance behemoth, the violations continue and even finds cheerleaders in both parties. Most recently Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) calling for these methods to be made permanent.
Is the Constitution – particularly the 4th Amendment – so irrelevant that the Republican Party, which constantly reminds us of how it reveres this document, that it can be completely blown off as long as the population has become used to it?
