see url:
https://theintercept.com/2018/01/14/facebook-warrant-pipeline-protest-whatcom-county-justice-department
The US Government continuously boasts to the rest of the world that it
is the land of the free and that what makes it so different from the
rest of the world is the way in which it not only protects, but upholds
civil liberties, the rights of the citizen to fair and equal treatment,
no matter colour, race, class, sex or ethnic background. And that the
rest of the world should follow its example.
Yet all the time we see, and, at a faster rate, the undermining and
subversion of civil liberties, by the big brothers of the US state,
through the law courts and the application of very dubious policies
which are considered illegal. One of those rights, is the right to
peaceful assembly and to free speech.
In this case, a warrant issued to local law enforcement compelling
Facebook (who gave them legal advice on how to do it properly. I didn't
know that part of the function of Facebook was to give free legal advice
to the police. It wouldn't be so bad if it gave free legal advice to
Facebook members) to release ALL information about who organised or was
involved, or even "liked" or "disliked" or who visited a Facebook page
to look at dispute over a pipeline, have been revealed to the police.
What the organisers and demonstrators did, which may have been against
road traffic law, was not a violent protest and not an unlawful protest,
its size merely delayed the traffic. No one has been charged with
conspiracy to organise a violent protest, or a subversive act. This
sort of intervention by law enforcement, local, state, national and the
Federal Big Brothers is increasing all the time. Why don't they just
organise surveys of the people if they want to know what they want or
what they feel upset about? It would be a lot cheaper, than the
expensive methods of mass collection and collation and storage of
useless data which they are so bent on doing today and increasingly in
the future.
What it means in effect, is that once people realise that they are going
to be surveilled, collated and evidence collected about their visits to
a webpage to do some research or find out information, which may then be
used to prosecute them at some later date for being involved in a
conspiracy, will put them off from visiting websites. Now this act may
or may not be deliberate, it matters not, that is the effect. If people
aren't allowed to express themselves, then what happens in a society?
The frustrations get bottled up, the limitations on civil liberties
increases because the powers that be start to believe that they can do
anything they like with no consequences. It is of course a false
premise, eventually the kettle boils, the dam bursts, greater masses of
the people revolt and societies finish up in insurrection, rebellion and
civil war. It has happened in the US already, which is why the
Constitution was writ down and designed to allow disputes between
citizen and citizen and the state to be resolved peacefully and
according to law. Limiting civil liberties is not the way forward.
Imagine a situation, where it was not known that 700,000 dreamers were
"repatriated" to Mexico without the US citizenry knowing? That is where
such limitations lead. But hey, who cares really...it couldn't possibly
happen to you or me. Life goes on, doesn't matter what regime is in
charge. We are all treated equally under a dictatorship...except for
the dictator...
Perhaps such developments are why many people in the rest of the world
do not view US government statements about civil liberties as having any
validity at all. After all, what happens in China...Do they have the
right to peacefully protest.
