I've written about government surveillance many times in this space, providing links to important research work that groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) do to help hold the state accountable for its snooping.
A new EFF resource details the vast and highly sophisticated array of tools, devices and technology government agencies use to police the U.S.-Mexico border. As the EFF rightly notes, the political focus is always on “border security.” But the security measures taken often include round-the-clock surveillance of U.S. residents of border areas – raising serious and undiscussed – questions of civil rights and privacy violations:
While officials in Washington, DC and state capitals talk in abstract and hyperbolic terms about a “virtual wall,” there is nothing virtual at all about the surveillance for the people who live there. The towers break up the horizon and loom over their backyards. They can see the aerostats from the windows of their homes. This surveillance tech watches not just the border, and people crossing it, but also nearby towns and communities, on both sides, from air and the ground, and it can track them for miles, whether they're hiking, driving to visit relatives, or just minding their own business in solitude.
People who live, work, and cross the border have rights. We hope these photographs document the degree to which freedoms and privacy have been curtailed for people in the borderlands.
The EFF has developed pages illustrating the types of surveillance used – from camera towers to “surveillance blimps.” Were they placed on state borders far removed from international boundaries, the howls of protest would be immediate and deafening.
Living and working in a border area does not mean government has the power to degrade the constitutional rights of lawful citizens to be secure in their persons and effects. Secure the border? Fine and dandy. But do so in a way that respects the rights of innocent American citizens to live and work free of government's all-seeing eyes.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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