Among the greatest dangers to the rights and liberties of the people of the United States is the sustained assault on the Fourth Amendment being waged by agencies and individuals at all levels of the government. For example, the IRS claims it can read your email without a warrant, because you have no expectation of privacy. From
CNET:
The Internal Revenue Service doesn't believe it needs a search warrant to read your e-mail. Newly disclosed documents prepared by IRS lawyers say that Americans
enjoy "generally no privacy" in their e-mail, Facebook chats, Twitter
direct messages, and similar online communications -- meaning that they
can be perused without obtaining a search warrant signed by a judge.
Police take the very same liberties with your right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. From the
EFF:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) urged the Washington State
Supreme Court Monday to recognize that text messages are "the 21st
Century phone call" and require that law enforcement officers obtain a
warrant before reading texts on someone's phone. . . . In this case, police seized a cell phone during a drug investigation and
monitored incoming messages. Officers responded to several texts,
setting up meetings that resulted in two arrests, without first getting a
warrant. Prosecutors have argued that no warrant was required because
there should be no expectation of privacy in text messages, as anyone
can pick up someone else's phone and read what's stored there.
If you do not see a problem with a government that believes it has the right to monitor all of your electronic communications, perhaps you should re-read the constitution and brush up on the history of totalitarianism.
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