It should certainly not surprise anyone, especially those who read this blog, that the government and its “law enforcement” arms at the local, state and federal level are constantly spying on us lowly citizens. Just consider the recent revelations concerning the National Security Administration (NSA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and others.
It has been reported recently due to a particular case investigation that the FBI has the ability and has used that ability to invade private computers in order to spy on the user. The computer’s camera or webcam can be secretly activated, all without the indicator light being on, so that the user can be watched without his knowledge. This was revealed in a Washington Post article yesterday.
This is not new, but has been little discussed in the media. A former assistant director of the FBI’s Operational Technology Division said that:
“The FBI has been able to covertly activate a computer’s camera — without triggering the light that lets users know it is recording — for several years, and has used that technique mainly in terrorism cases or the most serious criminal investigations.”
I firmly believe that the FBI has been doing this for years, but I don’t believe for a single moment that it has been used in only terrorism cases or the most serious criminal investigations. If the government or any of its agencies have any ability to secretly surveil and monitor the citizenry, it is a forgone conclusion that it is used extensively. There is no such thing as limited surveillance where the FBI or any other agency is involved.
This technique is in every aspect an invasion of the privacy and personal property of the individual being secretly monitored. Having the ability and using it to enter an individual’s computer system covertly by hacking in through email or another delivery point is dangerous beyond imagination. Government has no business weilding that kind of power. Once secret state surveillance is fully in place, liberty is lost.
So-called suspects who are in most cases the victim of this surveillance are not told that they are being monitored unless supposed evidence has already been captured, or in my opinion planted. If the FBI can control the computer, the FBI can also manufacture evidence. All who think that statement is overboard are mistakenly trusting of that most prolific criminal element called government.
This kind of power in the hands of “law enforcement” and corrupt judges is not an option that lends any credibility to the idea of freedom. In fact, the only covert and secret surveillance that should be regarded as legitimate is that of the people monitoring all government action, including all government computers and communication devices. As I have said many times in the past, all in government, including the police at every level whether local, state or federal, should be disarmed while the citizenry should be fully armed. The same holds true of surveillance and spying. That is the only way for the common people to protect themselves from that most nefarious of monsters–the government that claims rule over them!