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Senior Homeland Security Official Says Internet Anonymity Should Be Outlawed (dailydot.com)
Patrick O'Neill writes: A senior Homeland Security official recently argued that Internet anonymity should outlawed in the same way that driving a car without a license plate is against the law. "When a person drives a car on a highway, he or she agrees to display a license plate," Erik Barnett, an assistant deputy director at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and attache to the European Union at the Department of Homeland Security, wrote. "The license plate's identifiers are ignored most of the time by law enforcement. Law enforcement will use the identifiers, though, to determine the driver's identity if the car is involved in a legal infraction or otherwise becomes a matter of public interest. Similarly, should not every individual be required to display a 'license plate' on the digital super-highway?"
But you know, in a lot of states that doesn't prevent traffic cameras from being used to fine the owners of cars even if they weren't the drivers of the cars.
Fortunately in Minnesota, the state supreme court ruled them unconstitutional because they shift the burden of proof from the state to the vehicle owner.
Because they need to name the department with phrasing that makes it seem like it's job is to do something tremendously good while it really has a nefarious purpose. So something like: The Department of Freedom Protection. They "protect" freedom by locking it away where nobody can use it sort of like how a toy collector locks a toy away to keep it in mint condition.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Why do we continue to put up with this from our Governments? There are a great many of us that see the harm that these types of laws cause our freedoms, but the unwashed masses don't. How do you wake these people up that their security does not have to come at the cost of freedom. They still think they are free and I'm sure the Germans thought they where free during WW2 just as long as you didn't disagree or say anything against the Government. They also call people who can and do voice their concerns on this slow decent to fascism, alarmists or anarchists. Most of those that I work with just don't care about these types of laws. All they care about is whats on TV tonight and make sure they can download their music and TV. After that they just don't care. It's just to much work to have to think. Maybe this is why my blood pressure is to high. I should stop caring also.
When I first heard the term "Homeland" used to describe the United States, I knew in which direction we were heading.
I know what you're getting at, but it's probably not a good idea to throw the word fascism around at things that aren't, because you dilute the word to mean things that it doesn't, thus its harder to expose real fascists when they come around. (Which by the way, Europe really IS seeing a rise in fascism lately, with countries like Denmark and France seeing upwards of 28% of the vote going towards actual fascists.)
Fascism, which started in Italy and whose name was coined by Benito Mussolini (NOT Hitler, as most people think) means a strong national unity governed by a strong central government where individual identity is thrown out entirely. Mussolini also didn't want racism (he saw it as a diversion; besides, his wife was Jewish and was a major influence in the beginning of the first fascist uprising.) Hitler's fascism incorporated racial purity as part of the whole national identity thing. A lot of other European countries adopted fascism (including Greece and others, who were enemies of both Italy and Germany in WWII) that didn't include either the expansionist ideals of Italy and Germany, or the racial purity aspects of Germany. Another element of fascism is socialism (socialism being the government owns the means of production, NOT welfare, another distinction that people have forgotten over time.)
That said, the US has never had anything truly fascist about it, nor is it likely any time soon. The reason why is because our culture is so focused on individual identity, we don't like the idea of a central government being too powerful, and we also seem to have a big distaste for socialism (again, actual socialism, not welfare.)