CNN: Biden Admin Wants to Outsource Spying on Americans to Private Firms to Bypass Fourth Amendment

The Biden administration is considering using private firms to track the online activity of American citizens in order to get around the Fourth Amendment and other laws that protect Americans from unreasonable searches and seizures and surveillance. The report says that the Biden administration wants to monitor “extremist chatter by Americans online” but can’t do so without a warrant, and thinks private firms can get around the legal restrictions.

Federal authorities “can only browse through unprotected information on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook and other open online platforms,” according to CNN.

The plan being discussed inside DHS, according to multiple sources, would, in effect, allow the department to circumvent” restrictions the U.S. government has to surveil American citizens. “A source familiar with the effort said it is not about decrypting data but rather using outside entities who can legally access these private groups to gather large amounts of information that could help DHS identify key narratives as they emerge.

“By partnering with research firms who have more visibility in this space, the DHS could produce information that would likely be beneficial to both it and the FBI, which can’t monitor US citizens in this way without first getting a warrant or having the pretext of an ongoing investigation,” explains CNN.









https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2021/05/03/cnn-biden-admin-wants-to-outsource-spying-on-americans-to-private-firms-to-bypass-fourth-amendment-n1444246






This development is not a surprise at all. Government coordination with private business in order to circumvent the constitution. This should not be allowed. It should be criminal that they are even considering it. It must be stopped.

 

This on top of evidence that the Biden campaign and the state government of California coordinated contact with big tech social media to censor conservatives, their news media, and their social media access and bury stories and individuals. Government using private companies to spy on Americans? An outrage.

 

Is spying even the right word? This isn’t accessing private info, but having someone else collect it legally. I’m surprised what they described even needs a warrant to begin with. Unless I’m misunderstanding it.

 

From cnn
Whatever gets approved and implemented has to comply with established laws,” he said, noting that DHS can only use overt methods to gather information from social media or collect information that is publicly available
.

 

Wow. It seems like just yesterday that I was railing against the Patriot Act. And I was told in no uncertain terms that the only people who had anything to fear were criminals, and if I weren't doing anything bad, I would be fine, and then my patriotism was questioned.
Obviously this is nowhere near as bad as the Patriot act since it involves gathering data that people are willingly exposing publicly.
I am still very much against it.
Before our hair catches on fire let's remember that the story is about a possibility, not something that has actually been enacted.
I for one, am against it.
But please check your Patriot Act supporting hypocrisy at the door before commenting on this.
PS good job xxJefferson at finally putting something in the current section that isn't just an oped piece

 

Well GW Bush did it with the war right?
So why is this any different?
Most of our government laboratories are run by collages to skirt many rules.
So really your surprised?
But you all loved the "Patriot Act" as usual it comes back and bites you in the ass and now you care!
Pathetic as usual!

 

I opposed the Patriot act and this doesn't sound much better.

On the other hand, attack the Capitol, and this is what happens.

 

This article is way behind, private firms already spy on you, everyone spies on each other that has always been the norm in human societies..

 

Notice they never said a peep when Trump was doing it, or Boosh jr..

 

LOL. And people claimed Trump was Hitler or a fascist? Hahahahahaha.

 

Snowden already pointed out we do this for instance with UK intelligence services and tools which we have access to. There are tons of high tech intelligence listening stations out there that do not discriminate on the data they are storing, and plenty of neat tools they use to search it.

 

You think the government was not spying on you during the Trump presidency?

 

I am honestly surprised this was not already happening.

The NSA did not build that giant data collection center in Utah just because it looks cool.

 

smart move

Good ole Joe getting it done!

 

They actually built it to store cheat codes on Nintendo games.

 

I have no issues with the government going through my public social media posts — but then again I am not threatening civil war or violence if I don’t get my way... I can see why some would be concerned

 

I did. The Patriot act was a travesty for this country and both Democrats and Republicans gave us freedoms for a little security. I'll appose any president regardless of the alphabet letter behind their name that subverts the constitution.

 

They were collecting info from libraries about the books you checked out.

 

We all know that it is a violation of our privacy yet we let them get away with it and we have no recourse since the Supreme Court has backed the govt. on their civil rights violating acts..Yet you people support the current govt. which does it... There are no sides to argue for because they all do it in the seat of govt.so, I don't understand why you people support any of these people running our govt both fed, state and local because they are all spying on us even on the public roads they track us to see where we are going.

 

Xoe will sign a deal with China, having them run the whole deal on the stipulation that Xoes son, Humper head the operation, on paper anyway, for a cool $5 mil. Per year. Payable in American dollars please. No checks.

 

Could you repost this in English and not partisan sheep talk?

 

I was thinking he is trying one up the local pf fool?...Just sycobable

 

I am against the Patriot Act too, and this is a manifestation from it. The same people that were for it 20 yrs ago are now complaining.

 

I keep seeing "scandals" about what Biden is "considering". Just a couple of weeks ago, Biden was supposed to be "considering" re-taking Trump's wall. And I think I understand why it is.

The corporate press can't survive without scandals. Trump was a gold-mine to them. He provided REAL scandals at a rate higher than they could print. But before that, they relied on fake scandals. Most as idiotic as the IRS or the Pizzagate scandals. So now they're back to where they were then: in a position where they need to fabricate scandals to see if any of them stick. And they appear to be starting with these "considering" flavor of scandals.

But... do we have any "Biden is doing" rather than "Biden is considering" scandals yet? I mean, other than "slip on the steps of Air Force One"-gate.

 

My cynicism speaking here; the Founders ratified the Constitution, upon sobering up the next day and realizing what they'd done began diligently working to circumvent it, a tradition which continues to this day. My contempt for the "...but if you're doing nothing illegal..." crowd...well, forum rules prevent me from properly expressing it.