The Dangers of IP21C

The Powers Granted

The Investigative Powers for the 21st Century Act (IP21C) would grant the following powers to law enforcement:

• Private ISPs would be required to release subscriber information to law enforcement upon suspicion - without a warrant. This information would include:
  • The subscriber's full name
  • The subscriber's home address
  • The subscriber's IP address
• All ISPs would be required to install surveillance capabilities on their networks. The cost of surveillance would be shared between taxpayers and the ISPs themselves.
• Police would be allowed to require ISPs to preserve all information related to a particular subscriber or even a specific communication.

Potential for Abuse

Historical Precedents

History has known many instances where the State would abuse its surveillance powers to quell political dissent and legitimate free speech. Once the power to surveil all private communications has been granted, it is only a matter of time before it is used pre-emptively against individuals and groups deemed suspicious by the State.

Socialist and fascist dictatorships have always maintained a state monopoly on the media and tight control over the telephone and the telegraph under the same pretenses as our modern governments — to protect the citizens from the possibility of being attacked by criminals, foreign enemies or terrorists. In many of those countries, it was illegal to own a photocopying machine, and all typewriters need to be registered with a state security agency so they could easily identify the origin of any communication deemed offensive by those in power.

In reality, those powers were used almost exclusively against political dissidents and "thought criminals", and this may even happen again.

South of the Border

Under the U.S. Patriot Act, various agencies in the United States government routinely intercept various private communication upon suspicion of terrorism. While it was originally introduced following the terror attacks on September 11th, 2001, and the United States government claimed the additional powers granted would be used primarily to fight Islamic extremism, the definition of terrorism has recently been expanded to include

• Opposition to illegal immigration
• Pro-life demonstrations
• "Tea Parties", opposition to taxes and inflationary spending
• Second Amendment activism

None of the above-mentioned activities are illegal under the U.S. Constitution and body of law. However, it does not prevent government agencies from classifying those acts of legitimate political dissent as terrorist threats and using its Patriot Act powers as scare tactics against the persons involved.

More information about this is available at the following location: