If you’re doing nothing wrong…

…you should have nothing to hide

Surveillance is now pervasive. Traffic cameras monitor highways and are present at every intersection. Pedestrian cameras on street corners in downtown areas watch as you walk on by. Your phone is tracking your movements, even with location services disabled. Your phone is also listening for your voice commands, as well as absorbing every syllable that emanates from your sub-schnozular facial orifice. Big Brother truly is watching (and listening).

The Internet, and especially the evolution of “social media,” has had a significant impact on people’s perspective regarding privacy. There was a time when people were concerned that government was secretly installing listening devices in their homes; now, individuals install listening devices in their own homes for the sake of convenience.   No longer do you need to clap on, clap off to work your lights without touching a switch. Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and a host of others just await your command, while also recording every…single…sound. When once you had to get up and turn a physical dial to change the channel on the TV (or make your child do it), remotes entered and made it as simple as pushing a button. But that wasn’t simple enough. Too lazy to push buttons any longer, TV remotes now listen for voice commands, in addition to every sentence falling from your family’s lips.

That people miss or dismiss the implications of this is both mind-boggling and exasperating. While many readily sacrifice their privacy for the free use of social media (if you receive something for free, then in all likelihood, you, and your personal information, are the product), and many put their personal lives online for all the world to see, there is an aspect of volition involved.  You voluntarily offer your information, and those being offered the information are largely private individuals and corporations, similar to using your rewards card at the grocery store or gas station.

Where all of this becomes truly disturbing is when government is involved. Anyone who doesn’t recognize the extent to which government has been gathering social media information, and the influence they have exerted on social media since Covid, is in dire need of a rectocephalectomy (yes, I made that up - I trust my readers can figure it out). Combine that with contact tracing “features” installed on your phone (yeah, I harp on this a bit, but I’m not a fan of government being able to determine where, when, with whom, and for how long you are gathering), ubiquitously located lenses, and always-on voice monitoring, and there should be much concern about government obtrusion.

This is where the trope is usually proffered: “But if you’re not doing anything wrong…” or its cousin: “when you’re in public, you should have no expectation of privacy.” This is a reply I received recently when I commented on next door regarding an issue someone brought up. She was asking about some “strange cameras” she began seeing in her neighborhood and wondered what they were. They may (or may not) be anodyne, but in my mind, it raised the concern of more government intrusion. The retort came in response to my statement that the government should not have cameras on the street corners, or anywhere for that matter, other than for security purposes at government buildings. I stated that the Fourth Amendment prohibits government from surveilling us, and in return, he stated that is just at home. Thus the reason I think it is important to understand what the Fourth Amendment actually says:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (emphasis mine)

There is some critical verbiage our founding fathers included here of which all, especially government, should take note. First is that we have a right (this amendment, like the other nine in the Bill of Rights, does not grant the right - it protects it) to be secure in our “persons.” That means, you have a right to be free from government search, seizure, or surveillance in your person - regardless of where you are. Just as poignant, if not more so, is that a warrant is required and that there must exist “probable cause” supported by “Oath or affirmation” in order for such warrant to be issued. In the legal arena, “probable cause” carries a far greater burden on the government than mere mistrust. This means the government needs evidence, not simple suspicion, that some crime has been committed in order to obtain a warrant, and such a warrant must be very specific and explicit in all detail regarding the person, place, and items to be searched and/or seized.

Government has no right to surveil citizens without probable cause, making all the “if you’re doing nothing wrong,” and “you should have no expectation of privacy” arguments non sequitur. Such statements are completely irrelevant when it comes to government monitoring our lives, and we should not give in to such encroachment on our right to be secure.

It is acquiescence to this flawed logic that makes legislation like the Patriot Act so pernicious. In a land built on liberty, government should be barely noticeable. You never should have concern (unless you have committed a crime) that government is watching you, regardless of whatever inanity others may spew in attempts to rationalize such malfeasance. So next time someone says something of that sort to you, inform him or her that the Fourth forbids it, and that should be enough, because justifying government's abuse of power does nothing but promote and perpetuate government's abuse of power.