Government Surveillance: The Invasion of Privacy in Our Homes

Authored by John & Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute

The Gradual Erosion of Privacy

The privacy and dignity of our citizens are gradually being eroded. Each step may seem insignificant when viewed individually, but when viewed collectively, the emergence of a society unlike any we have seen becomes apparent. A society where the government can intrude into the most private aspects of a person's life at will. The Constitution, drafted by men who resisted the tyranny of an imperial ruler, suggests that one's home should be a fortress, safe from almost every kind of intrusion. Unfortunately, a collective assault by the government's cabal of legislators, litigators, judges, and militarized police has all but succeeded in reducing that fortress—and the Fourth Amendment alongside it—to a crumbling pile of rubble.

The War on Privacy

We are no longer safe in our homes, not from the threat of a government and its army of Peeping Toms who are waging war on the last stronghold of privacy left to us as a free people. The weapons of this particular war on the privacy and sanctity of our homes are being wielded by the government and its army of bureaucratized, corporatized, militarized mercenaries. Government agents—with or without a warrant, with or without probable cause that criminal activity is afoot, and with or without the consent of the homeowner—are now justified in mounting virtual home invasions using surveillance technology—with or without the blessing of the courts—to invade one's home with wiretaps, thermal imaging, surveillance cameras, aerial drones, and other monitoring devices.

The Green Light for Warrantless Surveillance

Just recently, the Michigan Supreme Court gave the government the green light to use warrantless aerial drone surveillance to snoop on citizens at home and spy on their private property. While the courts have given police significant leeway at times when it comes to physical intrusions into the privacy of one's home, the menace of such virtual intrusions on our Fourth Amendment rights has barely begun to be litigated, legislated, and debated.

The Surveillance State

Consequently, we now find ourselves in the unenviable position of being monitored, managed, corralled, and controlled by technologies that answer to government and corporate rulers. Almost anything goes when it comes to all the ways in which the government can now invade your home and lay siege to your property. On any given day, the average American going about his daily business will be monitored, surveilled, spied on, and tracked in more than 20 different ways, by both government and corporate eyes and ears. A byproduct of this surveillance age in which we live, whether you’re walking through a store, driving your car, checking email, or talking to friends and family on the phone, you can be sure that some government agency is listening in and tracking your behavior.

The Age of the Internet of Things (IoT)

Cue the dawning of the Age of the Internet of Things (IoT), in which internet-connected "things" monitor your home, your health, and your habits in order to keep your pantry stocked, your utilities regulated, and your life under control and relatively worry-free. The key word here, however, is control. By the end of 2018, "there were an estimated 22 billion internet of things connected devices in use around the world… Forecasts suggest that by 2030 around 50 billion of these IoT devices will be in use around the world, creating a massive web of interconnected devices spanning everything from smartphones to kitchen appliances."

The Future of Surveillance

It is expected that by 2030, we will all experience The Internet of Senses (IoS), enabled by Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), 5G, and automation. The Internet of Senses relies on connected technology interacting with our senses of sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch by way of the brain as the user interface. Once technology is able to access and act on your thoughts, not even your innermost thoughts will be safe from the Thought Police. Thus far, the public response to concerns about government surveillance has amounted to a collective shrug.

The Reversal of Privacy

When the government sees all and knows all and has an abundance of laws to render even the most seemingly upstanding citizen a criminal and lawbreaker, then the old adage that you’ve got nothing to worry about if you’ve got nothing to hide no longer applies. To our detriment, we are fast approaching a world without the Fourth Amendment, where the lines between private and public property are so blurred that private property is reduced to little more than something the government can use to control, manipulate and harass you to suit its own purposes, and you the homeowner and citizen have been reduced to little more than a tenant or serf in bondage to an inflexible landlord.

The Misunderstanding of Privacy

When people talk about privacy, they mistakenly assume it protects only that which is hidden behind a wall or under one’s clothing. The courts have fostered this misunderstanding with their constantly shifting delineation of what constitutes an “expectation of privacy.” And technology has furthered muddied the waters. However, privacy is so much more than what you do or say behind locked doors. It is a way of living one’s life firm in the belief that you are the master of your life, and barring any immediate danger to another person, it’s no one’s business what you read, what you say, where you go, whom you spend your time with, and how you spend your money.

The Need for Accountability

As Glenn Greenwald notes, "No democracy can be healthy and functional if the most consequential acts of those who wield political power are completely unknown to those to whom they are supposed to be accountable."

The Electronic Concentration Camp

None of this will change, no matter which party controls Congress or the White House, because despite all of the work being done to help us buy into the fantasy that things will change if we just elect the right candidate, we’ll still be prisoners of the electronic concentration camp.

What's your take on this?

This article presents a thought-provoking perspective on the state of privacy in our modern society. What are your thoughts on this matter? Do you feel that our privacy is being eroded, or do you believe that these measures are necessary for our safety? Share this article with your friends and start a conversation about it. And don't forget to sign up for the Daily Briefing, which is everyday at 6pm.