So as if NSA surveillance wasn’t already over the top another revelation has come out that the government wants more of our data. In this case CNET broke the story that the Federal government is demanding user passwords from internet companies.
The metadata they could already gather on EVERYBODY apparently was insufficient to whet the surveillance state’s appetite to know the intimate details of our lives. Whereas metadata only can tell you who is contacting who, how often and when; the government is now seeking user passwords from internet companies. That would grant the state the power to do EVERYTHING that the user could do. They could see all of your information private or not. They could use it to impersonate you if they wished because they would have full access to your personal accounts. On top of that allowing the government to obtain user passwords could involve real risk or harm. Think for a minute about what somebody could do with all of your passwords. At first you think they could go through your emails, IMs, calendar, lists of friends and other such things. But remember your password for your bank account log-in allows you to transfer money, review all of your purchases, examine in every intimate detail your financial situation.
It is high time that the government stop this excessive secret surveillance. If the Federal government wants to dig into every last intimate detail of your life then they need to serve you will a search warrant. If the government feels the need to investigate somebody so deeply then the person has the right to know about it. In fact these secret searches violate the Constitution but not the 4th amendment you are thinking of. Rather it violates the first amendment right to “to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” We the people have the right to challenge the government’s actions which is Constitutionally guaranteed. But when the government acts in secret we loose our right to “to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” We can’t challenge the government’s actions if we aren’t aware of their actions and the government takes great pains to ensure we are not aware as demonstrated by their treatment of leaks and media recently. The government is not beyond imprisoning anybody that inhibits or challenges their secret violations of the Constitution and citizen rights.
The surveillance state has gone way too far with digital spying on citizens!