Dear Editor,
I stand with Rand Paul on the "Constitutional" issue of data mining. Eric Snowden revealed this illegal action to the people and he is not a traitor but a whistle blower of illegal government actions. What happens to whistle blowers? Those in control of Government "kill the messenger.” Why did he go to China and then Russia? Because if he went to Canada or Great Britain he would have been extradited by that same controlling government.
Now the issue is how our government can develop intelligence on people within our borders being illegally, legally or a citizen that is working for and with terrorists. The first thing you need to understand is the Patriot Act is not our first line of defense. Our borders are our first line of defense with who we allow into this country. No 9/11 terrorists let into this country under Bill Clinton's administration then no 9/11 event. Same with the Boston bombers under Bush's administration. Now who has entered our nation under Obama's administration?
If you are here illegally or even legally you are still not an American citizen and all of our rights are not extended to you just because you are here. If an invading army crosses our border our military doesn't send someone to them explaining their newly gotten rights with a "Bill of Rights" pamphlet. Only an unconstitutional president i.e. Barack Obama does this. The right to privacy is not extended to anyone here illegally or legally because we have the right to know where and what you are doing at any and all times. That is why we as a nation need to be careful who we allow to become a citizen because once a citizen they now have the rights we the people now seem to be losing and again the government creates the problem and we the people pay the price with our loss of freedoms.
As for citizens, if you are calling areas in the world with a known terrorist problem or a country listed as a sponsor of terror then you should expect any call to that area to be monitored for the safety of our nation's people. If deemed a possible threat then a judicial warrant is issued allowing all your calls to be monitored and the data mining resources of your phone company are then turned over to government. Almost all Americans are not terrorists and thus should not be treated as such. Government needs to focus on the bad guys and leave our rights alone.
Steven King
Milton
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Data mining and citizenry