The Threat of Government Backdoor Access

Someone yesterday asked me what is so wrong about the government having backdoor access to our computers. As I see it, such unfettered access actually has several dangers that we should bare in mind as citizens.

First, backdoor access into our computers circumvent any firewall or antivirus protections. If a hacker learns how to access via the government's backdoor access (and you can be assured they will sooner or later), every computer so equipped will be unsecured. Your personal information on your computer would be an open book to the world, as would your bank accounts, the controls over our power grid and potentially every computerized military system.

Second, such access wouldn't allow them to just view your files, they could manipulate them as well. Why should the government wait for you to commit a crime if they want you in prison? With such access, they could load your computer with whatever materials they want, from child porn to "The Anarchist Cookbook", complete with "emails" sent by you to the heads of terrorist organizations around the world. Don't believe that? Try looking at the arrest warrant they used against the "terrorists" that were arrested in Aurora, Colorado a couple years ago. All the evidence was digital (computerized) records.

Third, the backdoor access could be used to install software that would render your computer useless, permanently or temporarily. A particularly interesting ability if they wanted to destroy the computers of anyone who criticizes the government. They could also do the same to computers controlling power grid infrastructure components without actually destroying the infrastructure, the perfect weapon for false flag operations. The gem of it is, they could then claim that terrorists, foreign agents or even "anonymous" hackers were responsible for destroying vital computer systems.

As a well-known computer security expert said a few years ago, it is poor civic hygiene to allow the installation of technologies that may one day be used by a police state against us. Allowing a government whose trustworthiness and credibility is decaying rapidly to have what seems like a minor ability could end up being the ultimate Achilles Heel that ends the last vestiges of Constitutional America.

Think about it, my friends.

Department of Homeland Security says IDs invalid?

Interesting events yesterday ...

I had to get documentation of my SSI benefits for my student aid paperwork (I've decided to take up the school on their offer to extend my education to the Master's level). When I presented my ID, I was told that I would have to get a new ID because the Department of Homeland Security was invalidating any identification cards that did not have an expiration date.

Wait ... DHS invalidating ID cards? Yep, you read that right. DHS is apparently trying to do an end-run around the states that have rejected the 'Real ID' law (a law, btw, that was slipped into a totally unrelated bill and passed without any debate in the Senate at all, despite serious concerns about it from many Senators). Instead of dictating the issuance of new identification cards, they have simply declared old identification cards were no longer valid for air travel, entering federal buildings or accessing federal services.

And they wonder why the homeless are so pissed off at our government?

The passage of the 'Real ID' law is a fundamental insult to the very basis of our nation. The American Revolution was, in part, triggered by the passage of onerous laws without due representation. What difference is there in this and the way this law was slipped onto the books? Without the Senate being allowed to debate the law, no meaningful representation was present. How many more onerous laws have been passed this way? I think it is time someone started a real investigation on this issue, assuming one isn't already underway.

Or does someone need to start writing a new 'Declaration of Independence'?