Big Brother Is Watching.

[Coach]

Tennessee is considering joining a national database so it can spy on it's residents!

http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=1628056

Where has our privacy gone?

[deb]

http://www.aclu.org/Privacy/Privacy.cfm?ID=14257&c=130

[TLC1ST]

[Gus_Gallows]

Guys, everyone is afraid their civil rights are going to be violated but the simple truth is, you are not subject to these observations UNLESS you are considered a suspect or acquaintance of someone involved in terroristic activities. ACLU likes to use scare tactics by saying that it will allow spying on "innocent" americans. That could not be further from the truth. It is spying, but not on the innocent. I believe in civil liberties, but I do not think they should be used to protect those who mean to do this country harm. If we want our families safe, and we are not among those who consort with terrorists, then we should be for something like this. If we are not doing anything wrong, why worry about it? It seems to me, those who oppose it the most are those who are in danger of being exposed for something they should not be doing in the first place. Civil liberties grants Americans certain rights, but they do not grant us the right to coherce the system to cover up our wrong doings. It's time America quit allowing the rights of CRIMINALS to override the rights of law abiding citizens. Don't put the skeletons in your closet and you won't have to fear them being found.

The 4th ammendment says "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

The keyword here is UNREASONABLE. I think it would be totally reasonable to search those who are protecting or aiding terrorists or who are linked in a way that would allow us to finally put a stop to terrorist support in this country.

The Fifth Ammendment says "No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

By keeping these issues from becoming law, the ACLU and conspiracy theorists make it darn near impossible to corner and capture terrorists in our country. By making it law, the due process requirement will be fulfilled and we can finally do something about our internal threats.

[John]

Good Post Gus. You hit the nail on the head. If you don't have anything to hide you don't worry. If you got something to hide I want them to find it and check it out. I don't care if your rights are violated if you got something to hide. I'm tired of MY RIGHTS being violated protecting criminals rights. I seem to remember being taught when you commit a crime you no longer have protective rights and now that has been turned around to Law Abiding citizens not having any rights of protection against criminals

[Jawbone71]

    Everyone (even criminals) has the right to be protected from unreasonable government intrusion.  As Gus pointed out, the question becomes what is reasonable.

    The database is nothing to be alarmed about.  None of the specific types of information listed in the article are protected from government now.

    Marriage licenses ... these are on file and are public record.

    Divorce proceedings ... these are public proceedings in public courts generally open to the public.

    Credit reports ... these might be a little less generally accessible to the public but its something that more different strangers than you want to know about look at routinely.  There are likely people you don't know who know a lot more about your credit report than you do.

    Social Security numbers ... you don't want to wear these on your shirt (though some put them on their personal checks) but you put it on many filings (including divorce pleadings) and give it to many different strangers for purposes of identification ... which is exactly what they would be used for in the database.

    Drivers licenses and photos ... this again is a public license for which you have applied and provided the information contained thereon ... to the government.  Its not a secret.  You show the photo to strangers for identification.

    So organizing this data in a database where identification can be verified is not exactly "big brother" kind of stuff.  This is all only info you regularly give out to the government and the public anyway.  Maintaining such a database might help us reduce things like identity theft and criminals taking on innocuous identities to hide their true background and intentions.

[Gus_Gallows]

Precisely. If people would take the time to educate themselves on what these initiatives truly coverred, instead of immediately accepting the word of what they here in the media, before they start screaming conspiracy theory or Big Brother, a lot more could be done for the betterment of our society. Not to mention how much firepower it would remove from radical groups pretending to be protecting our civil rights.