Not so covert state

Most of us fail to understand or think about what is being done by our governments in the name of security
.
So in order that you do think a little the following is a list of areas where many governments do monitor our lives
.
This list is not measuring government censorship of Internet traffic or police abuses, as legitimate as these issues may be.
.
Nor is government corruption included which in many countries is rampant
.
Note also that no categories apply to evidence-gathering by traditional, honest police
work which would be searches only with warrants issued by an independent judge, after sufficient examination of evidence
.
A procedure often dispensed with today as other means are open to the various government agencies
.
The list
.
Daily Documents - Requirement of state-issued identity documents and registration.
.
Border Issues - Inspections at borders, searching computers, demanding decryption of data.
.
Financial Tracking - State’s ability to search and record all financial transactions: Checks, credit card use, wires, banks etc.
.
Gag Orders - Criminal penalties if you tell someone the state is searching their records.
.
Anti-Crypto Laws - Outlawing or restricting cryptography.
.
Constitutional Protection - A lack of constitutional protections for the individual, or the overriding of such protections.
.
Data Storage Ability - The ability of the state to store the data they gather.
.
Data Search Ability - The ability to search the data they gather.
.
SP Data Retention - States forcing Internet Service Providers to save detailed records of all their customers’ Internet usage.
.
Telephone Data Retention - States forcing telephone companies to record and save records of all their customers’ telephone usage.
.
Cell Phone Records - States forcing cellular telephone companies to record and save records of all their customers’ usage, including location.
.
Medical records - States demanding records from all medical service providers and retaining the same.
.
Enforcement Ability - The state’s ability to use overwhelming force (exemplified by SWAT Teams) to seize anyone they want, whenever they want.
.
Habeus Corpus - Lack of habeus corpus, which is the right not to be held in jail without prompt due process. Or, the overriding of such protections.
.
Police-Intel Barrier - The lack of a barrier between police organizations and intelligence organizations. Or, the overriding of such barriers.
.
Covert Hacking - State operatives copying digital evidence from private computers covertly. Covert hacking can make anyone appear as any kind of criminal desired, if combined with the removing and/or adding of digital evidence.
.
Loose Warrants - Warrants issued without careful examination of police statements and other justifications by a truly independent judge
.
cc 2010 Cryptohippie
.
Now you have the true picture of what is being done in your country today and if not today then certainly tomorrow
.
Consider this
.
While everything runs smoothly in your life you do not care about this except as a hypothetical issue
.
Then when some silly little thing in your life goes wrong
.
Like your phone does not work
.
You suddenly experience the frustration of trying to deal with endless call centres
.
Endless options leading nowhere
.
Then finally after considerable frustration and time you get to a human being
.
Said human being often trained only to answer standard questions
.
Questions or answers that may or may not solve your problem
.
For sure at some point you resolve your problem
.
You go back to your normal life with a shudder at the time and effort used to rectify one small problem
.
Now imagine the state decides you have done something wrong
.
True or false now you enter a nightmare zone
.
Ever tried defending yourself from a remorseless state?
.
No then believe us it is hard if not impossible
.
Now imagine you have had enough and want to demonstrate
.
You write letters and emails all of which are held on file
.
Then you decide to march or demonstrate
.
Bad move you will be photographed your image and details on file for life
.
Should you be arrested for your pains then DNA will be taken and again you will be on file for life
.
And no you will not have access to what is hidden on these files
.
Not today but tomorrow many of us might have had enough of surveillance
.
Not sure we will be able to surmount these hurdles though