“Technology is making it easier to track and apprehend criminals in real time, but some civil libertarians worry that Fourth Amendment protections are being flouted in the process. Many new cell phones come equipped with tracking devices that can pinpoint the location of the phone to within 30 feet. The feature offers lots of possibilities both to users and law enforcement... But does having a cell phone now place ordinary citizens at risk of Big Brother keeping tabs on them everywhere they go, violating the Fourth Amendment’s guarantee against unreasonable searches?... The Fourth Amendment guarantees individuals have the right ‘to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures,’ and that ‘no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.’ But of course, the Framers had no idea when they wrote those words that ordinary Americans would one day willingly carry around devices that could track their every movement and provide that information to scores of individuals. Many people already have signed up to have private companies track their cars with GPS systems. Others are thrilled that their friends can find them at the local mall by carrying phones equipped with an alert system that notifies them when callers in their loop are nearby. Parents love the ‘chaperone’ kid-tracking system offered by some cell companies, even if their kids don’t. When it comes to cell phones and other electronic devices, privacy seems to be the last thing on most users’ minds.” —Linda Chavez
Quotes appeared in The Patriot Post news journal, Vol. 07, No. 48
“Liberty must at all hazards be supported.” —John Adams
“The Founding Fathers established a system which meant a radical break from that which preceded it. A written constitution would provide a permanent form of government, limited in scope, but effective in providing both liberty and order. Government was not to be a matter of self-appointed rulers, governing by whim or harsh ideology. It was not to be government by the strongest or for the few. Our principles were revolutionary. We began as a small, weak republic. But we survived. Our example inspired others, imperfectly at times, but it inspired them nevertheless. This constitutional republic, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, prospered and grew strong. To this day, America is still the abiding alternative to tyranny. That is our purpose in the world—nothing more and nothing less.” —Ronald Reagan
“History does not entrust the care of freedom to the weak or timid.”~Dwight D. Eisenhower Copyright 2007-2008TALK CITIZEN ™ is a trademark of LobaTek Incorporated
