US in Police State Top 10
p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- The US ranks Number 6, and the UK Number 5, on a Police State global index designed to score countries according to how aggressively they monitor their citizens electronically.
“The two countries lag behind only China, North Korea, Belarus and Russia in terms of governmental surveillance,” says Prison Planet.
Canada is Number 29.
The report, The Electronic Police State, was compiled from information available from organisations such as the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Reporters Without Borders, Freedom House, the Ludwig von Mises Institute and The Heritage Foundation, says the story.
“In an Electronic Police State, every surveillance camera recording, every email you send, every Internet site you surf, every post you make, every check you write, every credit card swipe, every cell phone ping are all criminal evidence, and they are held in searchable databases, for a long, long time,” says the report.
“Whoever holds this evidence can make you look very, very bad whenever they care enough to do so. You can be prosecuted whenever they feel like it the evidence is already in their database.”
Scoring is calibrated according to 17 factors, each with a value of 1 to 5, 1 indicating minimal development of electronic police state abilities in that area, and 5 indicating a full operation »»»
Border Issues Inspections at borders, searching computers, demanding decryption of data.
Financial Tracking State’s ability to search and record all financial transactions: Checks, credit card use, wires, etc.
Gag Orders Criminal penalties if you tell someone the state is searching their records.
Anti-Crypto Laws Outlawing or restricting cryptography.
Constitutional Protection A lack of constitutional protections for the individual, or the overriding of such protections.
Data Storage Ability The ability of the state to store the data they gather.
Data Search Ability The ability to search the data they gather.
ISP Data Retention States forcing Internet Service Providers to save detailed records of all their customers’ Internet usage.
Telephone Data Retention States forcing telephone companies to record and save records of all their customers’ telephone usage.
Cell Phone Records States forcing cellular telephone companies to record and save records of all their customers’ usage.
Medical records States demanding records from all medical service providers and retaining the same.
Enforcement Ability The state’s ability to use overwhelming force (exemplified by SWAT Teams) to seize anyone they want, whenever they want.
Habeus Corpus Lack of habeus corpus the right not to be held in jail without prompt due process. Or, the overriding of such protections.
Police-Intel Barrier The lack of a barrier between police organizations and intelligence organizations. Or, the overriding of such barriers.
Covert Hacking State operatives removing or adding! digital evidence to/from private computers covertly. Covert hacking can make anyone appear as any kind of criminal desired.
Loose Warrants Warrants issued without careful examination of police statements and other justifications by a truly independent judge.
Nations depicted in Red are the most advanced electronic police states, with an average rank of 3.0 or greater.
Nations depicted in Orange are strongly developing electronic police states, with an average rank of 2.5 or greater.
Nations depicted in Yellow are lagging (but still developing) electronic police states, with an average rank of 2.0 or greater.
Nations depicted in green are states that seem to be going toward the electronic police state model, but not as quickly.
Click here for raw data.
Prison Planet – Police State Study Ranks U.S. As 6th Worst In The World, May 12, 2009
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May 13th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Green colour is misleading, should be some blend of yellow and red too.
May 13th, 2009 at 11:48 am
The USA is the most free country there is or ever has been. We have more liberty than anybody now or in the past. Sorry that irks people so much, but it’s just silly to imply the opposite.
May 13th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
“The USA is the most free country there is or ever has been”
Are you talking about having the freedom to carry weapons? OK You guys are the WINNERS!
May 13th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
What this map mean is that people all across the word are missusing the technnology and it is time to stop them before we end up into an Orwelian world.
May 13th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
@Bob
It’s been pretty clear to me for a long time that we’re not all that free, actually. The government has held itself back (sort of) at least insofar as they don’t randomly SWAT people. But they’re power-hungry, and the infrastructure being quickly built, the anti-freedom being vehemently lobbied (and beginning to be enforced through corrupt and untenable laws such as the DMCA), and the fact that our citizens generally wouldn’t care enough about these issues to act on them…
We’re really in for it in the next few years. No doubt about it.
(Also, Bob, this is about an electronic police state, not so much a militant state. Sure, we have the freedom to walk down the street, skip work, or chat with our friends. We’re quickly losing the freedom to do these things in private.)
May 13th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Looks like Australia is not far behind… bugger….
May 13th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
Actually, this post interested me:
1. Bob is obviously your typical “Patriotic Conservative” (probably Republican.) It’s bleedingly obvious.
The U.S. is NOT the “freest” and has never been. Moreover, those particular Dead White Males we insist on calling the “Founding Fathers” explicitly DESIGNED the U.S. to be very non-free, while still being able to pay lip-service to our supposed ideals.
Look at the U.S. Constitution. Amendment 1: “CONGRESS shall make no law respecting….”. That’s right, Bob — all the supposed “fundamental freedoms” Lee Greenwood gets paid millions to sing about (whenever our corporate overlords need another war), ONLY APPLY TO CONGRESS. NOT to the “Several States”, which have had everything from “official state churches” to apartheid (called “Jim Crow” because Americans never seem to be able to admit that “we, as a society” never gave a goddamn about being “land of the free”, and we never will.)
Yes, I’ll be quite open about it: I am NOT “proud to be an American.” Rather, I’m ashamed — because I actually read up on the history of this “great nation”, and, moreover, realize that the current American Imperialist nightmare is just another version of “Manifest Destiny”.
Ask the Blacks, American Indians, “Japs” forcibly relocated during WWII how “Free” we are.
2. Let’s also just ignore the “war on drugs”, Patriot Act, the entire system of patents/copyrights (conclusive proof that whatever our market economy is, it sure ain’t “free”). Sorry to tell douchebags like “Bob”, but what “irks people off” is the fact that the U.S. is a rapacious imperialistic cancer on the face of the world, and routinely oppresses it’s own citizens, while paying lip-service to “Freedom” and “Liberty” and “our patriotic duty” whenever they need cannon fodder for their Empire.
And while we’re on THAT subject — what part of “Draft = Involuntary Servitude” don’t you conservatards “get”, Bob?
Go ahead, call me “unpatriotic”. I’ll probably just smile really big, say “thanks”, and spit in your face.
May 13th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
“Bob” probably thinks the “Waterboarding” at Guantanamo just means they had some really killer waves for surfing
May 13th, 2009 at 11:46 pm
Kong:
The reason “people don’t care enough” is basically because the U.S. is, at heart, a very conformist and authoritarian culture (despite all our blather to the contrary.) We really don’t LIKE dissent, hence all the attempts to ban books from schooi libraries because they use “bad” words or suchlike. I can’t bring myself to blame the tools or infrastructure being built, because the uses to which we put tools are implicit in the surrounding culture.
We really don’t like dissent, or nonconformity. We’re also not particularly “open” to “foreign” influences. (There’s a reason for the phrase “Ugly American”.)
Basically, the Bush administration and “war on terror” weren’t some kind of “betrayal of American values”. Looked at from a historical perspective, they represent a RETURN to American values: the McCarthy era, HUAC, screaming, flag-waving, war-mongering “Right-wingers”, etc.
Y’know what most people DO “care” about? The “communications decency act”, and “parental advisory stickers”.
I have had ZERO respect for the vast majority of my own countrymen since the PMRC and that evil bitch Tipper Gore.
Thankfully, Frank Zappa put them in their place, but the bullshit still got to be law.
Really, we deserved Bush.
And realistically, it’s not like we’ve EVER really had “the vote” in any meaningful sense of the term.
Thanks to the “Electoral College”, “the popular will” has no substantive meaning whatsoever. The “Deciding” vote is THE REAL vote.
When we go into those voting machines and pull those levers, the symbolism is apt, because it’s nothing but mass-turbation (”the masses” titillating ourselves with the illusion of real participation.)
So anybody whose surprised by the U.S. ranking, should REALLY be surprised we’re that LOW.
May 14th, 2009 at 11:00 am
haha look at all the little trolls come out and throw a fit about the truth, even making up little biographies for me – a person they know next to nothing about. Good try, folks, but the USA is free and has been the source of freedom. Get over it.
May 14th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
âCONGRESS shall make no law respectingâ¦.â. Thatâs right, Bob â all the supposed âfundamental freedomsâ Lee Greenwood gets paid millions to sing about (whenever our corporate overlords need another war), ONLY APPLY TO CONGRESS.”
Actually, if you know anything about the concept of CONTEXT, it only applies to the laws passed by Congress, i.e., FEDERAL LAW, which supersedes STATE LAW.
“Yes, Iâll be quite open about it: I am NOT âproud to be an American.â Rather, Iâm ashamed.”
To each his own. I agree strongly with the founding principles of my nation, and wish that the modern government adhered more strongly to them. I’m not like so many spineless modern Americans, who buy into trendy, modern foreign anti-Americanism and act like it’s not politically correct to even be from the United States any longer unless you’re completely ashamed of it.
And for the record, I also disagree with Selective Service, and the “War on Drugs.” I did disagree with the Patriot Act, but last I checked, that isn’t relevant anymore.
May 14th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
“And for the record, I also disagree with Selective Service, and the âWar on Drugs.â I did disagree with the Patriot Act, but last I checked, that isnât relevant anymore.”
Except, of course, for the portions that were made permanent.
“Actually, if you know anything about the concept of CONTEXT, it only applies to the laws passed by Congress, i.e., FEDERAL LAW, which supersedes STATE LAW.”
Which is why (for example) the Civil Rights act of 1964 was NOT an instance of “federal tyranny” — no matter what segregationists wanted to think.
Personally, I’d have more faith in the “founding principles of my nation” if “my nation” had ever intended to live by them, which history has demonstrated it doesn’t.
“To each his own. I agree strongly with the founding principles of my nation, and wish that the modern government adhered more strongly to them. Iâm not like so many spineless modern Americans, who buy into trendy, modern foreign anti-Americanism and act like itâs not politically correct to even be from the United States any longer unless youâre completely ashamed of it.”
Hmm. For me, I figure “we as Americans” could USE a little remorse, given our propensity to unthinkingly bomb the fuck out of places “our boys” armed and trained just a few years before. (Hint: “Bin Laden” basically worked for us, look it up.)
The “shining city on a hill” thing is bullshit, and we’ve routinely failed to live up to what we CLAIM to believe.
Or are you going to tell me that “separate but equal” lived up to the second condition?
Nation-states are a mere means to an end, and the sooner we get over our fetishization of “Der Fatherland”, the sooner we can start actually FIXING what’s wrong with this country. Or is that line of thinking too “politically correct” for you?
May 14th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
“Trendy, Modern foreign anti-americanism” = McCain/Palin-rally boilerplate.
May 14th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_PATRIOT_Act
Note that some aspects of it are coming up for expiration (unless they’re renewed — again), but certain portions were “made permanent”.
To the extent that it’s “permanent”, I figure it’s relevant.
(Why am I the only person here who seems to bother to research things off-site?)
We need more shame, and FAR less mindless flag-waving — otherwise, we’ll continue to be the way we’ve been for the last decade, and we’ll continue to be surprised when stuff like this “electronic police-state” thing comes out.
May 14th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
You have criticized others of hogging comment space. When are you gong to shut Henry off?
May 15th, 2009 at 12:47 am
“You have criticized others of hogging comment space. When are you gong to shut Henry off?”
THIS from somebody too gutless to even create a “handle?”
Go back to your godawful tea-bag parties. It’s people like “Bob”, and their sugar-coated view of the U.S., that allows us to believe that we can do no wrong, no matter WHAT we do.
Face it: Howard Zinn was right.
May 15th, 2009 at 2:21 am
Actually, I HAVEN’T criticized anybody for “hogging comment space”.
What I have criticized is hysteria, fear-mongering, and stupidity.
And guess what? “Bob” (whoever that is) has amply demonstrated everything that makes me genuinely ashamed that I happen to have been born in this country.
And “RadialSkid”, for some reason, is even less excusable, because he’s obviously not as mindlessly jingoistic as “Bob” — he’s able to at least question things like Selective service/the drug war/etc. — but somehow he doesn’t get just why people would be less than enthusiastic about their “Americanism”.
Well Golly Gee willickers, it’s not like eight years of the “forward strategy of freedom” could have anything to do with it, hmm?
Personally, I’ll stop being ashamed of “my country” when it stops doing evil things.
Don’t like it? Bite me.
May 15th, 2009 at 3:30 am
Anyone needing further clarification as to exactly why this “electronic police-state” thing isn’t really that surprising:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_and_Sedition_Acts
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasi-War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_American_internment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huac
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_of_tears
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_exclusion_acts
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know-Nothings
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_United_States
I challenge any sane, principled, or honest person to read the above-linked articles and STILL claim that “The USA is the most free country there is or ever has been”.
The relationship between the United States and the rest of the world/majority of it’s own citizens is actually pretty close to those stories you hear about battered women, where the guy is always like “Oh, Honey, I’m so sorry. It won’t happen again” — until somehow, mysteriously, it does.
“We, as Americans” can — and do — bloviate endlessly about our “sacred founding principles”, but like they say, the proof is in the pudding, and our particular national pudding is pretty goddamn sour.
Sorry if anybody thinks that daring to look honestly at our own history is too “politically correct.”
And yes, this one did piss me off.
May 15th, 2009 at 3:43 am
Oh yeah, one more (special for “Bob”, since he’s so obviously gung-ho about the U.S. as “source of Freedom”:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dred_Scott_v._Sandford
“Cradle of Liberty” my ass.
May 15th, 2009 at 7:54 am
@ “You have criticized others of hogging comment space.”
I’ve attacked spammers and trolls, but that’s all. And Henry doesn’t qualify as either.
Cheers!
May 15th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Thanks, Jon.
May 15th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Evidently, I’m not all that alone in being (justifiably) embarrassed by my nationality:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14998.htm
May 15th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Bob:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/05/15-7
Yay, team.
May 16th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
“And ‘RadialSkid’, for some reason, is even less excusable”because heâs obviously not as mindlessly jingoistic as ‘Bob’ â heâs able to at least question things like Selective service/the drug war/etc. â but somehow he doesnât get just why people would be less than enthusiastic about their ‘Americanism’.”
I’m not excusable, because I don’t make excuses for my opinion, to you or anyone else.
“because heâs obviously not as mindlessly jingoistic as ‘Bob’ â heâs able to at least question things like Selective service/the drug war/etc. â but somehow he doesnât get just why people would be less than enthusiastic about their ‘Americanism’.”
Because it’s pointless to be ashamed of your nation of birth. You didn’t ask to be born here. You didn’t make the decisions that you’re critical of, nor could you have done anything to stop them. What then, do YOU have anything to be ashamed of?
There’s a major difference between criticizing this nation and completely buying to every form of anti-American prejudice and outright HATING the nation and its people. I do the former, but you outright do the latter.
May 16th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
I don’t “hate the land of my birth”. I simply refuse to believe that there’s anything intrinsically noble about being “American.”
Y’know why? Because Our foreign policy over the last several decades is evil. Using white phosphorous on civilians is evil.
The fact that villagers over in Southeast Asia are getting injured and killed via landmines is evil.
So yeah, I do have some really big “criticisms” of governmental policy in that regard.
I have even BIGGER criticisms, however, of the underlying culture which makes such actions *possible*.
I have a REALLY big problem with how easily most of us fell into a red, white and blue stupor and let Dubya get us into this Iraq quagmire, where ninety-eight percent of the casualties occured AFTER he so glibly asserted “mission accomplished”.
What is it about *US, as a culture*, which makes us get on board with that?
I have a REALLY big problem when people defend the “enhanced interrogation techniques” used at Gitmo because “THEIR” torture methods would be ‘worse’. Sorry to tell everybody, but that doesn’t bode well for *we, the people.*.
I also love how you’ve, yet again, confirmed everything I’ve been saying. You assume that because I can no longer lie to myself about how “it can’t happen here’”, then I “hate” this nation and it’s people.
I don’t.
I just don’t — and CAN’T — derive the vast majority of my *personal* identity and self-worth from where I happen to have been born.
I simply refuse to lie to myself that “Americans” are some intrinsically noble, higher breed of humanity as such.
We’re not, y’know.
But we ALWAYS seem to believe that we are.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugly_American
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifest_Destiny
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civic_religion
The whole post-9/11 world — every step of the way — the vast majority of “The American people” have gleefully been lockstepping forward into pre-emptive war (how “patriotic” was dissent over the Iraq thing back in 2003?), secret military tribunals abroad, serious — if not fundamental — damage to our own civil liberties here at home, vigilantism on the Mexican border, and the worst level of sociopolitical division since the 1960s. (Red-State “Real” Americans like Lynndie England vs. Blue-State “elitists” who didn’t just “shut up and sing.”)
What part of this don’t you get, exactly?
This is FAR BIGGER than a mere quibble about governmental policy.
I’m asking WHY we become the arrogant, brutish, unthinking, genocidal, war-mongering psychopaths SO EASILY, ESPECIALLY with enough flag-pins and yellow ribbons?
IT CAN HAPPEN HERE.
But hey, do what you want: I advocate soul-searching and just a SLIGHT reduction in our (severely overdone) national hubris, and you mistake that for a “hatred of this land and it’s people.”
Goody gumdrops, we’ve reached the level of “Blood and Soil.”
What part of the last eight years DOESN’T make you at least a tad bit ashamed?
May 16th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
“Because itâs pointless to be ashamed of your nation of birth. You didnât ask to be born here. You didnât make the decisions that youâre critical of, nor could you have done anything to stop them. What then, do YOU have anything to be ashamed of?”
So, if it’s “pointless” to be ashamed of your “nation of birth” (EVEN when said nation EXPLICITLY predicates it’s existence and national self-image on a high-minded set of principles which it ROUTINELY VIOLATES, both here and abroad.)
But at the same time, it is NOT “pointless” to be enthusiastically, tear-jerkingly, unwaveringly “proud” of the “land of your birth” — to the point where people are actually STILL SURPRISED — or even scandalized — when yet another of “our” scandals come to light.
Who gives a shit if we’re consistently out-ranked by MOST other nations in terms of education? We’re Americans, goddamnit!
Can’t POSSIBLY make the top-ten list of electronic police states. We’re “the source of freedom”, and anybody who actually DARES to take an honest look at the bloodstains on the walls must just HATE this “shining city on a hill” we call the good old U.S. of A.
Trust me, Radialskid, those who REALLY run things (and I’m not talking about figureheads like Bush or Obama) know full-well that anything and everything can be — and WILL be excused, condoned, denied, or even outright cheered for, PROVIDED they package it in our favorite colors.
“Operation Iraqi freedom” sounds a hell of a lot better than “Operation Lets-make-military-contractors-wealthy-and-kill-civilians”, doncha think?
And maybe the reason it’s become “trendy” to dislike America is that the rest of the world sees what we’ve been DOING for the last decade (or is it longer?) They see us being arrogant, closed-minded, boorish tourists. The saw the “Jim Crow” South. They SEE us propping up dictators for the sake of political expediency, and above all, they see the pictures of nice, wholesome, homegrown “Real Americans” like Lynndie England playing human-pyramid with prisoners, or making some guy wear a leash and jack off at gunpoint.
I agree it’s “pointless” to be ashamed of where you’re from, but then how in the hell do you actually expect people to be *proud*?
Read the Communist Manifesto. Then look at “Marxist” nations.
How are we that much different? In degree, defintely — but NOT in kind, or this shit wouldn’t keep happening.
When they trot out the flags, yellow ribbons, and “national pride”, it’s time to brace yourself for some really nasty shit.
May 17th, 2009 at 1:14 am
“I simply refuse to lie to myself that âAmericansâ are some intrinsically noble, higher breed of humanity as such.”
They aren’t. I don’t agree with those that say they are. Americans are human, like everyone else. No better….AND NO WORSE.
“The whole post-9/11 world â every step of the way â the vast majority of âThe American peopleâ have gleefully been lockstepping forward into pre-emptive war.”
The vast majority? Last I checked, the war was highly unpopular with most of the public. And Bush was only re-elected by slightly more than half. If nearly 150 million Americans did NOT vote for him, I don’t call that the vast majority “gleefully lockstepping” with his policies.
“Iâm asking WHY we become the arrogant, brutish, unthinking, genocidal, war-mongering psychopaths SO EASILY, ESPECIALLY with enough flag-pins and yellow ribbons?”
Who’s “we?”
The problem here is that you’ve boiled down 306 million people to two groups….the pros and the antis. You make the mistake that so many do: You see people as nothing more than flags, and you think that all citizens are responsible for the actions of their government.
“But at the same time, it is NOT ‘pointless’ to be enthusiastically, tear-jerkingly, unwaveringly ‘proud’ of the ‘land of your birth’ â to the point where people are actually STILL SURPRISED â or even scandalized â when yet another of ‘our’ scandals come to light.”
And when did I suggest that? “Pride” is reserved for personal accomplishments. To be proud of your nation is every bit as pointless as to be ashamed of it.
I may like it here, I may wish to stay here, but true patriotism is about criticizing your government and seeking to set it straight when it has gone astray. That’s patriotism, not chest-thumping jingoistic nationalism. I have no use for that.
“And maybe the reason itâs become ‘trendy’ to dislike America is that the rest of the world sees what weâve been DOING for the last decade (or is it longer?)”
Who’s “we?” I ask again, are all 306 million of us to blame? Is it my fault, by virtue of being born on a specific latitude and longitude?
“The saw the ‘Jim Crow’ South.”
You refuse to blame the Germans for Nazism because it was too long ago, but you bring up Jim Crow?