Tag: Patriot Act 2.0

‘Patriot Act on Steroids’: Bill to Ban TikTok Could Lead to ‘Sweeping Surveillance and Censorship’ in U.S., Critics Say

Guest Post by Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D.

Lawmakers claim the RESTRICT Act — the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology Act — would give Congress new powers to mitigate national security threats posed by adversaries’ technology products, but critics called the bill a “dangerous substitute for comprehensive data privacy legislation.”

restrict act tiktok surveillance censorship feature

U.S. lawmakers are considering a bill that would grant the U.S. government vast new powers to surveil and censor U.S. citizens.

The RESTRICT Act — the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology Act, or Senate Bill 686 — would give the federal government new powers ostensibly to mitigate national security threats posed by technology products from countries that the U.S. deems adversarial.

The bill would grant the U.S. secretary of commerce the authority to “identify, deter, disrupt, prevent, prohibit, investigate, or otherwise mitigate” national security risks associated with technology linked to a foreign adversary.

There are only six countries on the foreign adversary list — China, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Russia and Cuba — but the bill allows the secretary and Congress to add any other country “if it became necessary.”

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The RESTRICT Act Restricts More Than TikTok

Guest Post by Ron Paul

Supporters of expanding the federal police state have found a new boogeyman to scare the people into surrendering their liberty: TikTok. TikTok is a social media platform that allows users to upload their own videos. It is used by tens of millions of Americans and is one of the most popular websites in the world.

TikTok’s popularity and the fact that is owned by a Beijing-based company — ByteDance — has led to the spread of a claim that the site is controlled by the Chinese government. Thus the claim the Chinese government is using TikTok to collect data on US citizens.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner introduced last month the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology Act (RESTRICT Act). The bill is being marketed as a way to protect Americans from foreign governments that use social media to spy on Americans.

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A STRANGE GAME (PART TWO)

In Part One of this article I laid out the dire situation we find ourselves facing, as the illegitimate Biden administration inflicts the coup de grace to our dying empire of debt. I will now provide a possible framework of resistance and methods of undermining the corrupt pillaging system we call government.

Image result for coming civil war

The concept of passive resistance has existed in various forms for centuries and has been used effectively in toppling enemies. A few weeks ago I was introduced to a concept I had never heard before in Doug Lynn’s article  Fair is Foul and Foul is Fair: Hover Through the Fog and Filthy Air. The passage below references “Irish Democracy” as a method for bringing an authoritarian regime to their knees.

More regimes have been brought, piecemeal, to their knees by what was once called “Irish Democracy”—the silent, dogged resistance, withdrawal, and truculence of millions of ordinary people—than by revolutionary vanguards or rioting mobs.

The premise behind “Irish Democracy” is that the State lacks the enforcement power to have its way with millions upon millions of rebels. It’s Mohandas Gandhi’s strategy, albeit without his overt confrontations with the institutions of government. “You can ignore the State and do as you please, as long as you keep your head down.”

Removing the overt confrontations makes “Irish Democracy” much safer than any other form of rebellion. The State needs conspicuous, targetable rebels. It cannot use terror of its forces without someone to turn into an “example.” No conspicuous rebels means nothing for the State to crucify for the edification of the public.

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Doug Casey on the (Domestic) War on Terror 2.0

Via International Man

War on Terror 2.0

International Man: Recently, Big Tech companies like Twitter, Facebook, and many others de-platformed the sitting president of the US.

Apple and Google also removed the conservative social media app Parler—an alternative to Twitter—from their app stores. Amazon removed Parler from its web hosting services.

Are we seeing the beginning of widespread censorship in the country? What comes next?

Doug Casey: A friend of mine sent me a quote from Ayn Rand the other day. Rand was without doubt one of the greatest intellectuals of the 20th century. In fact, people’s reaction to her and her ideas acts as a litmus test for how they feel about almost everything in life.

Rand said, “Once a country accepts censorship of the press and of speech, then nothing can be won without violence. Therefore, so long as you have free speech, protect it. This is the life and death issue in this country: do not give up the freedom of the press, of newspapers, books, magazines, television, radios, movies, and every other form of presenting ideas. So long as that’s free, a peaceful intellectual turn is possible.”

She’s 100% correct.

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