Posted on 09/10/2009 5:37:33 AM PDT by Phil Elmore
Where the problem truly arises is where problems occur whenever individual rights and individual property collide with the demands of an increasingly statist government and with genuine communitarian needs and requirements for security of the state. Any treatment of individuals in a free society must be based on the recognition that a citizen – and even a visitor to this free land – is innocent until proven guilty, and that he or she must be treated with utmost respect unless and until we have probable cause to view him or her as a potential threat. Even then, the assumption must be that the individual under scrutiny might yet prove to be innocent of any crime. We dare not do anything to him that permanently infringes on his rights, and this includes stealing his property and invading his personal data.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
Visitors? Nonsense. The Constitution only applies to U.S. citizens.
And Obama is proof that it doesn't apply to non-citizens.
ML/NJ
The Constitution applies to the (federal) government.
The now failing nascent obama regime turns out to be computer grabbers?
There are a LOT of recent computer sales and internet accounts they are going to have to catch up on.
That, and the fact the internet is so diffuse, this is rather like trying to stamp out moonshining.
The genie is out of the bottle, and is reluctant to be incarcerated again.
when they pry it from my cold dead pale cheetoh stained fingers
But only U.S. citizens are afforded it’s protections.
Don’t blame me - I objected when they brought this in under Bush and was shouted down by many who could never envisage any negative circumstances where these powers might be abused.
Consider for example the 14th Amdt., which states in part “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” Note the differentiation between “citizens of the United States” and “persons.” Non-citizens may not enjoy every protection the constitution guarantees, but some protections are guaranteed to them.
Far easier than confiscating or examining individual computers would be to use the emergency powers in the new bill before Congress to force ISPs to disclose who is looking at “objectionable sites” or block access to them. By 2012 I expect the USA will resemble East Germany in terms of personal liberty and free speech.
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