Our new surveillance society

By Libby This pretty much puts state of our nation in perspective. Not only do we have the largest prison gulag in the world, we rank at rock bottom for citizen privacy. In terms of statutory protections and privacy enforcement, the US is the worst ranking country in the democratic world. In terms of overall privacy protection the United States has performed very poorly, being out-ranked by both India and the Philippines and falling into the "black" category, denoting endemic surveillance. Wouldn't you think the 'land of the free,' a shining beacon of democracy that we claim to be should rank at the top? Add to that this piece of news and the picture becomes even blacker. The military's reliance on unmanned aircraft that can watch, hunt and sometimes kill insurgents has soared to more than 500,000 hours in the air, largely in Iraq, The Associated Press has learned. [...] According to a new Pentagon report, the Defense Department plans to develop an "increasingly sophisticated force of unmanned systems" over the next 25 years. The effort will confront some current shortfalls, including plans to improve how well the drones can quickly and precisely identify and locate targets. [...] In addition, the Pentagon said it wants to improve the drones' reconnaissance and surveillance abilities, which are the top priorities of commanders in the field. How difficult do you think it would be to use this technology in America in the event the White House 'decided' we have a national emergency that requires the tracking of the citizenry? No habe. No posse comitatus. It all begins to add up, doesn't it?