Hotel Guantanamo

In yet another attack on liberty and the individual, President Obama recently signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which contains provisions that could authorize the indefinite detention of American citizens. Under the act Americans suspected of terrorism can be detained indefinitely in military custody without charge or trial. The act is particularly troubling because of the lack of geographic or temporal limitations. Combined with the act's vague description of what "terrorism" is, it is understandable why the act has many civil rights and libertarian groups worried that American citizens are at risk of having their fourth amendment rights violated. They argue that not only is the bill unconstitutional, but that it violates international law because it is not limited to people captured in the context of an actual armed conflict as required by international law.

President Obama had threatened to veto the bill over the provision of indefinite detention but moved away from this stance following the bills bi-partisan support, he did however issue a signing statement stating "serious reservations" about the provisions, and that the use of said provisions would never be employed by his administration. His statements however did not address the fears of citizens that future administrations may use the provisions to violate the rights of Americans.

The provision contained within the NDAA is just another example of the problems America faces in trying to keep the country safe from the actions of terror organizations while upholding civil liberties. The NDAA, coupled with the PATRIOT act's provision that those being investigated for terrorism can not inform others of the investigation, could theoretically allow citizens wrongfully accused of terrorism to be held in military custody for months without trial while being restricted from taking legal action against their captors. This begs the question as to whether or not keeping Americans safe from terrorism is worth giving up the liberties that were earned by so many paying the ultimate sacrifice.

In my opinion the loss of liberty is never justified by the excuse of public safety. As Benjamin Franklin once said, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety". Fortunately our founders had the foresight to give us three branches of government, and the final word on the authority of detention belongs to the Supreme Court, which has yet to rule on the issue. In the meantime lets all hope we don't end up living the words sang by Eagles front man Don Henley "We are programmed to receive..you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave".

Big Brother Comes Home For The Holidays

If your reading this right now then you obviously have access to the internet be it through whatever device a smart phone, laptop, etc. And if you’re any thing like me you spend a great deal of time online, in fact the average American now spends an average of thirteen hours per week online. To give you some perspective that is the same amount of time we spend watching television.

Beginning in the mid nineteen nineties the internet started to become an economic boon in the United States, the geniuses of Silicon Valley had came up with an entirely new realm of business opportunities. As the internet has became common place in American life, the profits online business are able to bring in have skyrocketed, the U.S. commerce department has reported that Americans spent an astonishing $165.4 billion online in 2010. That is a major slice of the economy, the new automobile market in the U.S. accounts for $141.5 billion.

There is no denying the internet as an economic force and that its share of the market is here to stay. However there are many internet users, myself include, that see the internet as something more than just a way to make a profit. Many people see it as beacon for free speech, individualism, and creativity, a market place of ideas one that allows the world to interact on a scale never seen in the history of mankind. Yes it has its flaws from email scams, malware, and pedophile predators to the depraved dregs of comment sections. But nowhere else can one so freely traverse through a plethora of content, be it an obscure sexual fetish one minute to a thesis on quantum mechanics the next. The world is now literally at your fingertips, but recently that access to information has come under threat.

Just in time for the holidays our good friends in Washington on Thursday , hearing the cries for help from some of Americas largest media firms, (you know the same people who cashed in on a share of that record $165 billion) claiming that their copyrights and profits are being unjustly infringed upon by internet piracy. Have introduced two shiny new gift wrapped bills one in the house along with one in the senate, the House Stop Online Piracy Act and the Senate Protect Intellectual Property Act. These bills and their amendments would expand the ability of law enforcement and copyright holders to shut down any site that host pirated content, which either advertently or inadvertently accounts for a huge swath of the content available online. Civil liberty groups, engineers, and many of the largest internet entities (Google, Facebook, and Wikipedia) have come out against the bills citing reasons from censorship and privacy down to engineering and technical issues. Google founder Sergey Brin opined on Google+ Thursday “Imagine my astonishment when the newest threat to free speech has come from none other but the United States. Two bills currently making their way through congress -- SOPA and PIPA -- give the U.S. government and copyright holders extraordinary powers including the ability to hijack DNS and censor search results (and this is even without so much as a proper court trial),” Brin wrote. “While I support their goal of reducing copyright infringement (which I don't believe these acts would accomplish), I am shocked that our lawmakers would contemplate such measures that would put us on a par with the most oppressive nations in the world.”

I happen to agree with him; in my opinion these bills are another step in the continued corporate and government takeover of the individual and our rights. There is a reason the founders opened the bill of rights with the freedom of speech, it is one the most important rights we have, allowing us to be able to express ourselves and be heard while hearing the expressions of others. Freedom of speech is essential to democracy; it combined with a reasonable expectation of privacy make our society a better place. These bills however will accomplish quite the opposite. All you have to do is look to Iran, China, and their like to see what censorship and the prying eyes of government can do to a society. If you share these sentiments take to the web, write your representatives, and sign one of the many online petitions making their way to Washington. I think our first President and hero of the Revolution said it best “If the freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter”, I know I am not a sheep, are you?

*Originally posted to Goon Squad on December 16, 2011

Decleration

"Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it." - Thomas Paine

This blog is dedicated to the freethinkers, men and women who throughout the ages, relied on reason as their guide. Who believed in the potential of man kind to become exceptional and enlightened. In a free society it is essential that everyone have a right to their own opinion on things, and the right to express them in the open market of ideas, these are mine.