Via-Motherboard
Back in 2003, it was already well established that the US federal government was using new surveillance powers found in the Patriot Act to investigate crimes unrelated to terrorism. In 2001, the ACLU detailed how the FBI issued 143,074 national security letters (which come with gag orders), resulting in 53 criminal referrals, of which only one was for terrorism. And, in October,NSA Chief Gen. Keith Alexander stated that only one or two terrorists plots were thwarted because of federal surveillance of telephone conversations.
If we acknowledge that federal surveillance powers are being used to fight non-terrorism crimes, then perhaps we should rethink the very idea of surveillance—and imagine what other crimes could be fought in this way. Call this a thought experiment: What if we inverted the federal government's surveillance philosophy, or modulated it, folding it back onto federal officials? If knowledge and data are power, then why not empower Americans with a tool that could impose ethics on our political institutions?
This is, more or less, what WikiLeaks and Anonymous have sought to do for the last few years. But, this approach requires either waiting for whistleblowers to speak, or hackers to purloin vital documents. What if we didn't have to rely on whistleblowers, hackers, and activists to break the truth out of vaults full of secrets? What if if every public move made by a government official, from bureaucrat to politician, was recorded, filed, streamed, and otherwise posted online for all to see? Perhaps then government decision-making could be straightened out.
Think about it: we already peer into government in various other ways—FOIA requests, congressional floor debate and committee testimony; partial reporting of political campaign donations and expenditures; voting records, etc. This clearly isn't enough, though. Deals aren't made on the floors of congress, but in back rooms, parlors, and at dinner tables between politicians, lobbyists, and financial power brokers.
Why don't we mandate surveillance of elected officials? Imagine a world in which every email between a politician and lobbyists were made public; every phone call, text, and Skype session recorded and logged, and made accessible to anyone in the country. Politician and bureaucrats daily movements tracked via GPS, and all closed committee hearings made public. Add to that a constantly updated stream of congressional and bureaucratic activity. Sound intrusive? Well, Americans already experience this type of privacy invasion; why shouldn't the government figures imposing this system on Americans (and foreigners) feel the very same Big Brother presence at all times?.......
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Nixon Had It Right: The Government Should Be Wiretapped Updated at :
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Friday, November 8, 2013
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