You are being watched like you have never been watched before, and it’s happening at a rate that might even surprise the people who have accepted for a long time that we are under the constant eye of the government.
It all began with the Patriot Act following 9/11, and at the time, I was like a lot of you. I supported the idea of being able to go after terrorists—but I was naïve. I bought the lies that it would never be used on us when it is absolutely being used on us and has been since day one.
I can tell you it was going on long before 9/11—but that gave them the ability to move forward without anyone saying much for several years anyhow.
Almost a dozen years ago, the Washington Post reported that in April 2012, there were 3,984 federal, state, and local organizations working on domestic counter-terrorism. That’s right, more than a decade ago, the number of people trying to see what you were up to was nearly 4,000, and it has increased daily ever since.
And who is on the list of those spying on you every minute of every day?
The National Security Agency, of course. The NSA, even though we are told they aren’t supposed to, collects billions of emails, text messages, and phone calls every single day and is upgrading so it can sift through billions more.
Big Brother knows—and so do all of his brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles, and friends.
The FBI National Security Branch Analysis Center had more than 1.5 billion government and private sector records about American citizens back then.
Do you want to hazard a guess as to how many it has now?
Of course, you know, but it has been confirmed by the likes of the ACLU and the New York Times that just having a cell phone in your possession means you are being tracked in real time, and soon that may well become mandatory. I mean, with more than 300 million smartphones and hundreds of thousands of towers—that is a lot of coverage that they will demand to use.
Sixty-five million of us have fingerprints on file—140 million have fingerprints, pictures, and biographical information in the system.
Is this you? It’s me—I have been through background checks to interview the President of the United States—they have a full file on me that I can guarantee.
And what I’ve outlined is really just the beginning—because if you talk to Alexa, then you’re having a conversation with one of about 50 billion machines that are connected now to the “system.”
It’s shocking, but the so-called Internet of Things is keeping track of what you watch on TV, what you order for lunch, and what you laugh at, cry at, and yell at during the course of the day.
The Bureau of Future Crime sounds less and less science fiction and more like science fact all of the time.
Now, you may not be on the government watch list or in its crosshairs—but you are certainly on its radar. We all are.
I mean, let me ask a few questions if you don’t mind.
Are you taking prescription medications, or have you at any time in the last decade? Well, congratulations! The move to Electronic Medical Records means you are in the system.
Have you or anyone related to you bought or used a home DNA test and then sent it back? How many true crime shows do you have to see where the killer is tracked down using information that was given to the world voluntarily?
I can almost guarantee if you left the house today and went anywhere—you walked, biked, or drove by a surveillance camera—and likely a whole swarm of them.
If you have been on an airplane—pretty much anytime since 9/11; well, they got ya—and likely they got ya a whole bunch of times.
Ever been in the military?
Been on food stamps?
Have a criminal record for anything ever?
Been on welfare?
Been hired or fired?
Do you have a disability?
And just exactly how much money do you have?
Of course, if you’re one of the fringe right-wing zombies that tried to purchase a gun—well, not only do they know that and know exactly what you bought, but they know how much ammunition you bought for that gun and every other one too so they can try to figure out how many rounds you have left at your disposal.
And if they don’t have a record of your gun, but you bought a certain kind of ammunition, they know you bought a gun privately too, now, don’t they?
If you buy hunting and fishing licenses, they can begin to evaluate your proficiency—and because most states are now requiring you to check in the animals you kill and sometimes the fish that you catch under the guise of conservation, they get a pretty good idea if you’re any good at it.
That is pretty handy information. Can this guy shoot a gun, and can he provide for himself if we try to order him to eat crickets? This is information they use and cross-reference to build an ever more complete file on you and the people around you.
They know what you eat, what you watch, what you drive, and what you talk about. Yes, they are listening through the phone, the TV, the computer, and probably about ten other things, depending on what you brought into the house.
Those home security cameras and webcams seemed to be very wise and very convenient—well, the government thinks so too, and thanks you for being such a loyal customer.
Of course, we haven’t even touched on social media and all the things we put out to the electric world—who we like, dislike, admire, and detest.
Think about how much information you have shoveled to the world so they can now submerge it in AI to predict what you are going to do next.
Maybe you are a gun owner and a Catholic. That is almost a lock that you are a domestic terrorist and will certainly need to be dealt with at some point.
Even those who shy away from all this high-tech stuff have profiles the people in the shadows can review. If Bob was in the army and is elderly, they know that. If he goes to the doctor and has insomnia and is incontinent—they know that. If he has a propensity to look at pornography online from time to time—they know that too.
And for those of us using these devices, they know more about you than you probably do. They can make assumptions and predictions. Remember, information is the ultimate power, and don’t think for a second they are not willing to use it when it suits them best.
They have been doing this since the 1980s—maybe earlier—but they really started getting good at it in the 1990s and have been perfecting it ever since.
Then, the government co-opted all the private companies to turn over hundreds of billions of files, too. Google, Facebook, Twitter, Verizon, and AT&T come to mind.
There really is no reason for the government or private companies to have the kind of information they have unless they intend to do something with it. I just don’t think anything good comes from any of this—but I will be honest—I don’t have a single idea of what can be done about it.
That horse left the barn a long time ago. I know because he has a cell phone, and I can tell you exactly where he is right now!