I wrote this article maybe a week ago, and sent/published it the same day that I wrote it. I don’t think you or anyone else actually got it, because the subscriber email service I use apparently blocked it. They didn’t tell me they blocked it. Instead, they shut down my ability to send any mail until they investigated a “problem”. They waited a couple of days and then “discovered” there was no problem and restored my service. So twice in a month they have shut me down for a couple of days and then restored my service, having never found any reason for shutting me down. Just an “Oops, sorry. Our mistake.” And apparently the FBI article is blocked still, because I have this “Critical” warning implying that no one opened the sent email.
The two posts that got me turned off had to do with the armed pedophiles organizing in Dallas and the FBI tactic of using geofencing to identify every cell-phone user in a given area at a given time to justify their arrest of Jan 6 citizens.
Remember this next time you take your cell phone to your Sabbath assembly. Or to church. Or to your Mosque. Or to the rifle range. The government is actively tracking phone data to determine who is where, at what time, for how long, and where they came from to get there, and where they went after they left. The Wolf is at the door, and one morning in the near future a decision will be made to “round them up”. When that decision is made, the vampire government which rules them all will go directly to their target, round everyone up and load them into trucks. The children will go to another location.
If you give the government an inch, it will always take a mile.
This is how the slippery slope to all-out persecution starts.
Martin Niemöller’s warning about the widening net that ensnares us all, a warning issued in response to the threat posed by Nazi Germany’s fascist regime, still applies.
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
This particular slippery slope has to do with the government’s use of geofence technology, which uses cell phone location data to identify people who are in a particular area at any given time.
First, police began using geofence warrants to carry out dragnet sweeps of individuals near a crime scene.
Then the FBI used geofence warrants to identify individuals who were in the vicinity of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
It wasn’t long before government officials in California used cell phone and geofence data to track the number and movements of churchgoers on church grounds during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
If we’ve already reached the point where people praying and gathering on church grounds merits this level of government scrutiny and sanctions, we’re not too far from free-falling into a total surveillance state.
Dragnet geofence surveillance sweeps can and eventually will be used to target as a suspect every person in any given place at any given time and sweep them up into a never-ending virtual line-up in the hopes of matching a criminal to every crime.
There really can be no overstating the danger.
The government’s efforts to round up those who took part in the Jan. 6 Capitol protests provided a glimpse of exactly how vulnerable we all are to the menace of a surveillance state that aspires to a God-like awareness of our lives.
Relying on selfies, social media posts, location data, geotagged photos, facial recognition, surveillance cameras and crowdsourcing, government agents compiled a massive data trove on anyone and everyone who may have been anywhere in the vicinity of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Included in that data roundup were individuals who may have had nothing to do with the protests but whose cell phone location data identified them as being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
You didn’t even have to be involved in the Capitol protests to qualify for a visit from the FBI: investigators reportedly tracked—and questioned—anyone whose cell phones connected to wi-fi or pinged cell phone towers near the Capitol.
One man, who had gone out for a walk with his daughters only to end up stranded near the Capitol crowds, actually had FBI agents show up at his door days later. Using Google Maps, agents were able to pinpoint exactly where they were standing and for how long.
The massive amount of surveillance data available to the government is staggering.
As investigative journalists Charlie Warzel and Stuart A. Thompson explain, “This [surveillance] data…provide[s] an intimate record of people whether they were visiting drug treatment centers, strip clubs, casinos, abortion clinics or places of worship.”
In such a surveillance ecosystem, we’re all suspects and databits to be tracked, catalogued and targeted.
Forget about being innocent until proven guilty.
Although the Constitution requires the government to provide solid proof of criminal activity before it can deprive a citizen of life or liberty, the government has turned that fundamental assurance of due process on its head.
Now, thanks to the digital trails and digital footprints we all leave behind, you start off guilty and have to prove your innocence.
In an age of overcriminalization, when the average American unknowingly commits at least three crimes a day, there is no one who would be spared.
The ramifications of empowering the government to sidestep fundamental due process safeguards are so chilling and so far-reaching as to put a target on the back of anyone who happens to be in the same place where a crime takes place.
As Warzel and Thompson warn:
“To think that the information will be used against individuals only if they’ve broken the law is naïve; such data is collected and remains vulnerable to use and abuse whether people gather in support of an insurrection or they justly protest police violence… This collection will only grow more sophisticated… It gets easier by the day… it does not discriminate. It harvests from the phones of MAGA rioters, police officers, lawmakers and passers-by. There is no evidence, from the past or current day, that the power this data collection offers will be used only to good ends. There is no evidence that if we allow it to continue to happen, the country will be safer or fairer.”
Saint or sinner, it doesn’t matter because we’re all being swept up into a massive digital data dragnet that does not distinguish between those who are innocent of wrongdoing, suspects, or criminals.
Case in point: consider what happened to Calvary Chapel during COVID-19.
Government officials in Santa Clara County, Calif., issued a shelter-in-place order in March 2020, dictating whom residents could see, where they could go, what they could do, and under what circumstances.
County officials imposed even harsher restrictions on churches, accompanied by the threat of crippling fines for those that did not comply with the lockdown orders.
Then Santa Clara officials reportedly used geofence surveillance technology to monitor the concentrations of congregants at Calvary Chapel during the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 and 2021, using their findings to justify levying nearly $3 million in public health fines against the church for violating the county’s strict pandemic restrictions.
Despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that similar restrictions unconstitutionally singled out houses of worship for especially harsh treatment and “struck “at the very heart of the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious liberty,” county officials have sought to collect millions of dollars in fines levied against churches, including Calvary Chapel, for violating the county’s mandates.
At a minimum, the use of geofence surveillance to monitor church attendees constitutes an egregious violation of the churchgoers’ Fourth Amendment rights and an attempt to undermine protected First Amendment activities relating to the freedom of speech, the free exercise of religion, and the right of the people peaceably to assemble.
Still, the government’s use of geofence surveillance goes way beyond its impact on church members and anyone in the vicinity of the Jan. 6 protests.
The ramifications for all of us are far-reaching.
Mass surveillance has been shown to chill lawful First Amendment activities, and historically has been used to stifle dissent, persecute activists, and harass marginalized communities.
A study conducted by Roger Clarke, the famed Australian specialist in data surveillance and privacy, indicates that the costs resulting from the erosion of personal privacy are so significant that they essentially threaten the very foundation of a democratic society.
Some of the most serious harms include:
- A prevailing climate of suspicion and adversarial relationships
- Inequitable application of the law
- Stultification of originality
- Weakening of society’s moral fiber and cohesion
- Repressive potential for a totalitarian government
- Blacklisting
- Ex-ante discrimination and guilt prediction
- Inversion of the onus of proof.
In other words, the chilling effects of pervasive surveillance give rise to a constant, justifiable fear in even the most compliant, law-abiding citizen.
Of course, that’s the point.
The government wants us muzzled, complacent and compliant.
So far, it’s working.
Americans are increasingly self-censoring and marching in lockstep with the government’s (and corporate America’s) dictates, whether out of fear or indoctrination, or a combination.
In the meantime, the use of geofence warrants continues to be debated in the legislatures and challenged in the courts. For instance, while a California court found that a broad geofence search warrant violated the Fourth Amendment, a federal district judge for the District of Columbia upheld the use of geofence warrants by police in connection with the events of Jan. 6.
No matter how the courts rule, however, one thing is clear: these dragnet geofence searches are well on their way to becoming the eyes and ears of a police state that views each and every one of us as a potential suspect, terrorist and lawbreaker.
As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, this is how technologies purportedly adopted to rout out dangerous criminals in our midst are used to conquer a free people.
ABOUT JOHN W. WHITEHEAD
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His most recent books are the best-selling Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the award-winning A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, and a debut dystopian fiction novel, The Erik Blair Diaries. Whitehead can be contacted at staff@rutherford.org. Nisha Whitehead is the Executive Director of The Rutherford Institute. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.
I believe it is time to turn “it” off at night and treat it as a home telephone…you can only answer “it” when at home. I have been using Google maps a bit lately, but I do know how to turn “it” off when I don’t need maps. I don’t use wi fi at home. I will just turn “it” off. Time to turn off the modem and wi fi at night again. They know who I am and what family I married into; my cars in the past have been tracked. I’m putting my trust in Yeshua, Father, and Holy Spirit. I have shelf stable food and water stored. I’m standing in a position of trust. Thank you Brother Jerry. Robin in Ohio.
that last protest in c.h.i.n.a. turned out to be a ‘silent’ trenimon sq. (spelling?) every person who attended was eliminated …..
And if you do take that phone out with you, turn OFF the wifi….especially if you dont have a faraway pouch.
Proverbs 24:21 CJB don’t get involved with revolutionaries (aka protests)
I know, don’t get involved with rebels and obey the king. Antifa, Black Lives Matter, those are rebel groups. Even the Democratic Party and the Teachers Union — rebel groups seeking to overthrow the U.S. Constitution, which we (former military) are sworn to defend. We swear to defend the Constitution against foreign and domestic enemies. Patriots endeavor to maintain the lawful order of things, and in the instance of America, it is the government who are the rebels. We will fight to the death over that fact soon. Our government breaks every law on the books. The government here is the rebel, and our King is the United States Constitution.
Thanks, Jerry – good information. My understanding from those who worked on this infrastructure as early as WWII, and from those I’ve run into while working as a sys analyst & programmer for years, is that the surveillance system includes other elements as well, such as computer & internet usage, online purchases, purchases with debit & credit cards, as well as banking in general, tracking from computer controlled autos, gps capable devices, rfid information, medical and governmental records, et al. There are many, many information streams, and they can be tied together to identify individuals, along with all their relevant data, as well as identify family groups and groups of frequent associates. In my experience, they are remarkably efficient, and difficult to dodge. Many years ago, my employers sent me to a conference in Seattle, that was sponsored by MicroSoft. This was close to the release of Windows 7. There were many presentations explaining how the release of that architecture allowed – indeed was designed – to allow this collection and cross-linking of data. Most… Read more »
All correct, brother. Right on point. They put all that data together and update it in real-time. If we could get into a Fusion Center I think we would faint. My background is also in technology. I designed complex data systems for corporate clients and even designed a scalable blade system to replace a Cray One for a seismic customer. The Chinese asked me to sell them a “gps guidence system for cruise missile” and offered me a SUN Microsystems franchise to resell into the U.S.A. the SUN equipment that SUN had shipped to China. Clinton was President at the time. So yes, you know what is going on. Another interesting bit are those huge windowless concrete buildings that are in a few cities. NYC has at least one, and I think ATT owns it. If you come across information on that, you might let me know what you find out.
Good info.
I do not use a cell phone as I have known what they are and do
for a very long time.
Yeah, I’m going to start carrying a mylar bag in my truck so I can stuff my phone in it. How’s the snow?
Only about 6″ to go and some places are muddy 1/2 the day. Getting ready to garden as soon as the ground is ready Father Yah willing .
Life is not boring walking in the way for sure.
Watching the miracles and wonders of it all.
Are you spending prep time in the hills ?
Shalom
Moving to a small piece of land where we can have some chickens and a garden and a well. We had anothe rplace until a few years ago and I had to give away 30 chickens. Family health forced the move to take care of grandmother. As far as food goes, I am less concerned about having enough to eat and more concerned about those who have nothing to eat and no way to grow it. They will be dangerous and in large numbers. SO it will be a collaborative effort between me and our neighbors to guard the one road into our area and to patrol the woods at night. Will need a good dog. Current one is visibly aging now. He he starting to struggle a bit to stand up.
one of those bags that block the signal. I brought some fabric to make some!!
Cool beans, Kate. What is the fabric called? Maybe make yourself a knit cap to wear on your head, too. Seriously. Wear it all the time for a month and see what, if anything, you notice about your moods or sleeping habits or cognition. And if you have one of those “smart meters” around you, buy some flat sheet metal and block the signal into your dwelling. For example, if there is a meter on an outside wall, then on the inside wall directly behind that meter, place a one square meter sheet of steel on the wall with the meter (outside) centered on that sheet of steel. That should block nearly all of any radiation from that meter getting into your house. And the steel does not have to be thick. I think this would end the most powerful signals coming into your home from the smart meters. 5G and cell towers – blocking those will be a little more involved.
Thanks for the reminder…I have mylar bags. I’ll put one in the car now.