disorderlyvision
01-25-2010, 01:49 PM
http://www.fr33agents.com/2004/why-you-should-abstain-from-the-census/
Being a big Boston T. Party fan (based on his work, particularly Boston’s Gun Bible and Molon Labe! and our interaction at the last Liberty Forum) I was excited to read his newest book, One Nation, Under Surveillance to see what tactics he advocates individuals take to protect their privacy from Big Brother. Though Boston tackled this issue in Bulletproof Privacy, after more than a decade, that book was dated due to fast-changing technology and the ever-expanding Big Brother.
I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that while reading One Nation I was struck simultaneously by feelings of empowerment and worry. For example, though I was aware of sweeping surveillance programs used by the Feds (Carnivore, ECHELON, the NSA’s direct access to AT&T’s servers etc.) the book disclosed even more privacy-usurping programs such as the Digital Collection System Network (DCSNet), which, according to a Wired.com source Boston cites “connects FBI wiretapping rooms to switches controlled by traditional land-line operators, internet-telephone providers and cellular companies.”
One Nation goes in depth about how you can take steps to protect your privacy in the areas most prone to government intrusion: ID, online, phone, mail, financial transactions, travel and more. Though many of the steps are admitted time-consuming ask yourself: What is my privacy worth?
One chapter I found particularly timely was “The Census and ACS” in which historical examples were used to underscore how census information collected by governments for supposed benign reasons was later utilized to commit massive violations of individual rights. For example, Reinhard Heydrich (thought by some to be Hitler’s successor before he was killed), who was the Nazi’s point-person in the eastern territories they had seized, claimed that “the census documents provide the basis for evacuation.” The same was true for those the Nazi’s deemed “undesirable” in Germany and other areas they occupied. It’s fair to say that without such information the scale and precision of the so-called Final Solution would not have happened.
Here in the “land of the free,” after that Statist bastard FDR issued Executive Order 9066, the Census provided the Army with records to facilitate the internment of over 110,000 Japanese-Americans. And a century before that census information was used by Sherman as he led the Union Army through Georgia on persons-killing property-destroying rampage. According to Sherman:
The closing scene of our recent war demonstrated the, value of these statistical tables and facts, for there is a reasonable probability that, with them, I would not have undertaken what was done and what seemed a puzzle to the wisest and more experienced soldiers in the world.
Boston rightly concludes:
By providing reams of information, the census allows politicians to further manipulate people’s lives. The more information government collects, the more control government can exert.
My suggestion to you? Pick up a copy of One Nation, Under Surveillance to become more-informed. Don’t fill out any government paperwork and refuse to talk with Census employees if they call or come to your door. Don’t get lulled into compliance by the $340 million marketing campaign the Census is waging this year – including two Super Bowl ads and a road tour (hey minarchists, where is that allowed by your holy constitution?).
You wouldn’t disclose any of the information requested on the ever-expanding census form to a complete stranger so why give it to a group with such a terrible track record that claims a monopoly on the use of violence? One that, as we’ve seen, is ever-ready to utilize the information to propagandize “us vs. them” scare tactics to distract individuals from the problems they’ve caused or exacerbated. Seems to me the real threat are those who claim a right to you and your property.
For a thorough overview of One Nation, check out Michael Hampton’s review of One Nation over at Homeland Stupidity.
Being a big Boston T. Party fan (based on his work, particularly Boston’s Gun Bible and Molon Labe! and our interaction at the last Liberty Forum) I was excited to read his newest book, One Nation, Under Surveillance to see what tactics he advocates individuals take to protect their privacy from Big Brother. Though Boston tackled this issue in Bulletproof Privacy, after more than a decade, that book was dated due to fast-changing technology and the ever-expanding Big Brother.
I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that while reading One Nation I was struck simultaneously by feelings of empowerment and worry. For example, though I was aware of sweeping surveillance programs used by the Feds (Carnivore, ECHELON, the NSA’s direct access to AT&T’s servers etc.) the book disclosed even more privacy-usurping programs such as the Digital Collection System Network (DCSNet), which, according to a Wired.com source Boston cites “connects FBI wiretapping rooms to switches controlled by traditional land-line operators, internet-telephone providers and cellular companies.”
One Nation goes in depth about how you can take steps to protect your privacy in the areas most prone to government intrusion: ID, online, phone, mail, financial transactions, travel and more. Though many of the steps are admitted time-consuming ask yourself: What is my privacy worth?
One chapter I found particularly timely was “The Census and ACS” in which historical examples were used to underscore how census information collected by governments for supposed benign reasons was later utilized to commit massive violations of individual rights. For example, Reinhard Heydrich (thought by some to be Hitler’s successor before he was killed), who was the Nazi’s point-person in the eastern territories they had seized, claimed that “the census documents provide the basis for evacuation.” The same was true for those the Nazi’s deemed “undesirable” in Germany and other areas they occupied. It’s fair to say that without such information the scale and precision of the so-called Final Solution would not have happened.
Here in the “land of the free,” after that Statist bastard FDR issued Executive Order 9066, the Census provided the Army with records to facilitate the internment of over 110,000 Japanese-Americans. And a century before that census information was used by Sherman as he led the Union Army through Georgia on persons-killing property-destroying rampage. According to Sherman:
The closing scene of our recent war demonstrated the, value of these statistical tables and facts, for there is a reasonable probability that, with them, I would not have undertaken what was done and what seemed a puzzle to the wisest and more experienced soldiers in the world.
Boston rightly concludes:
By providing reams of information, the census allows politicians to further manipulate people’s lives. The more information government collects, the more control government can exert.
My suggestion to you? Pick up a copy of One Nation, Under Surveillance to become more-informed. Don’t fill out any government paperwork and refuse to talk with Census employees if they call or come to your door. Don’t get lulled into compliance by the $340 million marketing campaign the Census is waging this year – including two Super Bowl ads and a road tour (hey minarchists, where is that allowed by your holy constitution?).
You wouldn’t disclose any of the information requested on the ever-expanding census form to a complete stranger so why give it to a group with such a terrible track record that claims a monopoly on the use of violence? One that, as we’ve seen, is ever-ready to utilize the information to propagandize “us vs. them” scare tactics to distract individuals from the problems they’ve caused or exacerbated. Seems to me the real threat are those who claim a right to you and your property.
For a thorough overview of One Nation, check out Michael Hampton’s review of One Nation over at Homeland Stupidity.