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do we have a section for Police State matters? <---comment
Report: Capitol Police Are Spying On Lawmakers And People They Meet
Police surveillance is another way of keeping voters and the accountability they might bring at a healthy distance.thefederalist.com
Besty Woodruff Swan and Daniel Lippman broke the details this week of a new Capitol Police initiative that involves deep dives into the speech, background, and lifestyle details of who members of Congress are meeting with, including donors, Hill staff, mayors, state legislators, and other Americans exercising their First Amendment right to petition their government.
Personal details on Capitol Hill staff, state legislators, or donors are dispersed to partisans and suddenly leaked at an opportune political moment by some agency conveniently immune to the Freedom of Information Act and subject to limited oversight. After the aggressive leaking, spinning, and shaming that bureaucrats engaged in during the Donald Trump years, we’ve seen what’s possible.
This practice also comes dangerously close to burdening the free exercise of political speech, which includes the right to petition the government “for a redress of grievances” without fear of reprisal.
From what I can gather, all they did was comb through publicly available information. If someone knows your name and general location, they can generally find your social media pages, and if you make them public, then they can see what's on them. The article mentions "spying," but I saw no mention of anything that would constitute an invasion of privacy. Seems like more right-biased false narrative propaganda from the Federalist.
From the article:
"a donor meeting attended at a private home by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, meant the homeowner and attendees had their social media scrutinized and evaluated for foreign contacts by Capitol Police. A donor meeting with Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., the House Republican whip, received similar treatment. The Capitol Police were directed to “search for any information about event attendees, including donors and staff, ‘that would cast a member in a negative light.'"
I suppose we could try to make some draconian rule that law enforcement officers aren't allowed to access publicly available information on members of the public until and unless some condition is met, but how would you enforce that? Anything you put on the internet is public and searchable, not just by the federal government and law enforcement, but by anyone. The information you put there is no longer yours to control. I, as a private citizen, could find this information in an hour or two and keep records of it wherever I want for as long as I want and share it with whomever I want. How is anyone going to stop me?
Here's an idea: Whether you're trying to hide from the federal government, law enforcement, or your ex-girlfriend, all you have to do is make your social media private and don't friend anyone you don't know. Or better yet, delete that Facebook page and Twitter account entirely.
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