To work, vaccines have to make you sick. Really.

October 20, 2009 — xanthippa

Recently, I found out that a lot of people are not aware that unless a vaccine actually made you sick, it did not work!

This is due to great sloppiness:  among the media, who report on ‘medical stuff’ without bothering to inform themselves on even the bare basics of the topic they are ‘reporting on’, among the educators (including Medical-school level), many of whom do not bother to actually understand the very things they are supposed to teach (or pretend not to, because of funding), and especially among the practicing medical professionals, who seem to think we are all so stupid that it is necessary for them to manipulate the information they permit us to have, so that we’ll make ‘the right choice’!

This is right out of several ‘pages’ of my ‘pet obsessive peeves’ book:  the ‘misrepresentation of science’ book, ‘bad/ignorant reporting’ book, ‘dumbed down education’ book, ‘state fascism’ – and a few more.  And, it makes me very, very angry.  Sorry if I am ranting too much….  So, what is the cause of my rant?

Recently, many Western news outlets (MSM, of course) carried the story that giving babies Tylenol (or, indeed, any other fever-reducing/anti-inflammatory medication) right before/after they get a vaccine greatly reduces the vaccine’s effectiveness.

OF COURSE!!!  THAT IS THEIR FUNCTION!!!

Why in the world would medical professionals – the very people who ‘cracked’ this amazing and life-saving process called ‘vaccination’ – need a study on something as obvious as this?  If you understand the process of how vaccines work, it is clear that taking analgesics and anti-infammatories will necessarily interfere with the very way vaccines work!

Doctors don’t know this?!?!?  D-ughh!!!

At this point, I am shaking my head and wondering where to start….

Let me walk you through the steps in process through which vaccines are supposed to work:

1. ‘Controlled Infection’

A dead or weakened version of the virus (or viruses, in case of vaccines which protect against multiple pathogens) is introduced into the body of a healthy person.  This is usually done by directly injecting the vaccine into the body or by applying them to the mucuous membranes and allowing them to permeate through there.

2. Immune system response

The immune system finds the ‘intruders’ and begins to fight them.  The methods our immune system employs in this include fever (most viruses do not reproduce effectively at higher temperatures – hence, fever is a potent weapon our immune system uses), hot-cold spells/chills (most viruses cannot handle sudden temperature changes, which is why our immune system uses this weapon to kill them…actually, this is also how the whole sauna/steam-room thing works, if performed properly:  people go get hot, then cool off extremely suddenly by rolling in snow or swimming in freezing water – and repeat this process 3x or more times within one hour: most germs will not survive these sudden temperature changes), inflammation (among other reactions, mucuous membranes try to trap germs, so this form of immune system defense may involve significant mucus generation), and so on.  In other words, the immune system will evoke all the symptoms we associate with ‘being sick’ in order to ‘learn’ this ‘germ’.

3. ‘Creating a memory’

The immune system, during this fight, ‘takes notes’, so to speak.  It creates an ‘entry’ in its ‘dangerous thingies memory bank’, where it records everything it has learned about each germ:  how to identify it (by the pattern of proteins on its ‘skin’) and how best to fight it (this may include specific antibodies the immune system ‘learned’ to produce, and the ‘systemic symptoms’ like fever, which are unpleasant but kill the germ way faster than they kill us, and so on).

4.  Future protection

A healthy immune system will keep this ‘record’ for many years, sometimes up to three decades:  the more dangerous the immune system judges the germ to be, the ‘deeper’ the ‘entry’ and the longer it will ‘remember it’ and recognize the germ, should it ever infect the body again.  This is important:  the germs which attack us will reproduce inside our body at an exponential rate.  If the immune system ‘recognizes’ the germ, it does not have to spend valuable time (sometimes days) trying to figure out how to fight it – time the germs would use to increase their number and, perhaps, overwhelm the immune system.  Instead, it can compare the ‘germ’ to its ‘database’, retrieve the information about what destroys ‘this germ’ most effectively and start fighting it very shortly after  the germ first enters the body.  This means the germ does not have time to produce millions of copies of itself before the immune system effectively destroys it – and the person is protected from a serious infection.

5.  The Trick!

Because the pathogen which was introduced through the vaccine was weakened or killed, it is not capable of reproducing (or, reproducing effectively) in the host (you).  That means that it cannot overcome your immune system while the immune system is trying to figure out how to fight it.

To sum it up:

The pathogens in the vaccine must be strong enough to make our immune systems ‘take them seriously’ and fight them (and thus ‘learn’ how to fight the full-strength germ, if it ever infects that person), but harmless enough so that they cannot overcome the immune system while it is trying to figure out what works against this germ.

This means that a vaccine which does not make your immune system go into high gear (make you ‘sick’) has not given you any protection!

So, if you get a flu shot – and you do not get ‘mild flu-like symptoms’ – the vaccine did not work!

And, if you take medication which suppresses fever, and so on, you will be directly interfering with the immune system’s ‘learning process’.  As in, the immune system will mistake the reaction to the pill for the reaction to the last thing it did to try to fight that germ!

Is it any surprise, then, that it does not ‘learn’ how to fight this pathogen effectively?

Doctors are said to still be taking the Hippocratic Oath:  ‘Do no harm’.  In a person with a healthy immune system, a vaccine will produce the symptoms of the harmful illness it is to prevent, but prevent the ‘harm’ that an actual full-strength infection would cause.

Vaccination is an important weapon in fighting disease.

But, like everything else, it can do more damage than good if it is not used properly.  If it is misrepresented and misunderstood, then people may sabotage the very process the vaccine is inducing, without knowing it.  Then, thinking they are protected, they will not act as cautiously as they might otherwise…

And that, in my never-humble-opinion, is a bad thing.

Posted in education, politics, science, society, technology. Tags: , , , , , . 6 Comments »

More corporate fascism for squashing freedom of speech

October 19, 2009 — xanthippa

In my short post yesterday, Thunderf00t’s video demonstrated how easy it is for a large corporation – specifically Google, which controls how the vast majority of information on the internet is accessed – could easily collude with politicians for their own benefit…and to the detriment of us, the ‘little people’.  In addition, Thunderf00t demonstrated how, through YouTube, Google had already demonstrated that they do censor (by not allowing their search engines to ‘pick it up’ and thus making it ‘virtually dissappear’) information which is critical of them…

The desire, means and ability:  it’s all there!

Sadly, that is just the tip of the iceberg!!!

From Michael Geist:

… the Electronic Commerce Protection Act comes to a conclusion in committee on Monday as MPs conduct their “clause by clause” review. While I have previously written about the lobbying pressure to water down the legislation [to protect consumer rights] (aided and abetted by the Liberal and Bloc MPs on the committee) and the CMA’s recent effort to create a huge loophole, I have not focused on a key source of the pressure. Incredibly, it has been the copyright lobby – particularly the software and music industries – that has been engaged in a full court press to make significant changes to the bill.

…

The DRM [Digital Rights Managament] concern arises from a requirement in the bill to obtain consent before installing software programs on users’ computers. This anti-spyware provision applies broadly, setting an appropriate standard of protection for computer users. Yet the copyright lobby fears it could inhibit installation of DRM-type software without full knowledge and consent. Sources say that the Liberals have introduced a motion that would take these practices outside of the bill.

…

Even more troubling are proposed changes that would allow copyright owners to secretly access [personal] information on users’ computers.

(my emphasis and notes)

OK – let’s sum up:

Large multinational corporations are lobbying (and succeeding, with Liberal and Quebec PMs) to allow changes to the proposed  Electronic Commerce Protection Act which will permit – in the name of protecting their copyright – manufacturers of products (from video games to music CDs to just about anything else that is ‘electronic media’) to install and run programs on your computer, which would gather personal data about you and your computer use.  And, it would allow them to do it without your permission – and even without your knowledge!!!

If there really are people out there who think this is something that only concerns people who steal music or movies, please, think twice.

Do we permit the police – who, at least, are accountable to the citizenry – to wiretap our phone ‘just to make sure we are not breaking the law’?  NO!  They must prove, to the satisfaction of a judge, that there is a cause for surveillance, get a court order, and only then can they listen in.  If it ever gets to court, the police are obligated to disclose all that they have.  And, so it should be.

This lobbied-for change would, in effect, permit private corporations – who are not accountable to anyone but their own BOD and shareholders – to ‘wiretap’ your computer, monitor every keystroke, access data in every bit of memory.  Without any judicial oversight, without any requirement that they disclose the information they collected – or what it was they were collecting in the first place.

This would permit corporations to install ANY SPYWARE  THEY WANT on ANY computer… and this software could attack any program or data it deemed to be in breech of DRM.

And, you have no say in it.

Remember what happened to all those Kindle users, who woke up one day and found books they legally purchased deleted, because somewhere higher up the chain, people were bickering about digital rights?

Well, this would become the norm:  anyone who had any claim to a copyright could install software on your computer – without you even knowing about it – and if this found anything it considered breeched its DRM, it would delete it.  Even if you bought it legally.  Because if there were any dispute anywhere along the line, their ability to delete ‘the content’ would be supreme.  Really.

Is this reasonable?

Is this the fair balance of rights?

And if you don’t think this is happening already, you are wrong!

Even Canada’s Privacy Commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, warns of the impact these changes would have to the privacy rights of Canadian citizens:

Technological advances hold out the promise of greater convenience, but sometimes at a cost to human rights such as privacy and the ability to control our personal information.

Meanwhile, governments and businesses have a seemingly insatiable appetite for personal information.

Governments appear to believe – mistakenly, I would argue – that the key to national security and public safety is collecting mountains of personal data. Privacy often receives short shrift as new anti-terrorism and law enforcement initiatives are rolled out.

Personal information has also become a hot commodity in the private sector. Our names, addresses, purchases, interests, likes and dislikes are recorded, analysed and stored – all so companies can sell us more products and services.

Adding to our concerns is the fact many businesses fail to adequately protect this sensitive information – leaving it vulnerable to hackers and identity thieves.

And if you thought THAT was not enough….

This idea has been ‘rumbling about’ for a few months, but recently received publicity when Eugene Kasparsky openly stated that each internet user should have an internet passport.  This would, presumably, document their every click and keystroke, which could then be monitored through increased internet regulation.  I dare reach this conclusion because Mr. Kasparsky also said that there must be no anonymity on the internet, and any country which refuses to regulate and monitor its citizens should be cut off the net.

Oh, and this should all be enforced by ‘internet police’!

I’d like to change the design of the Internet by introducing regulation—Internet passports, Internet police, and international agreement—about following Internet standards. – Eugene Kaspersky,
CEO of Russia’s Kaspersky Lab

OK – this idea is radical now.  You may shake your head and say this will never be possible.

But, 40 years ago, did anyone think that, once accused, the ‘truth’ could not be used as ‘defense’?

Posted in opression, politics, society, technology. Tags: , , , , , , , . 3 Comments »

He who controls information, controls ‘thought’

October 18, 2009 — xanthippa

Thunderf00t is one of the most vocal free-speech advocates on YouTube.

He is outspoken on subjects he is passionate about – so he has ‘annoyed’ many other people.  Yet, while mocking them, he still supports their right to spew their abuse at him…

We are all concerned about protecting our free speech – at least, we ought to be.  We are all concerned about how governments seem to be legislating away freedom of speech in the name of the right of the collective not to hear the truth.

But, better minds than mine have warned that the greatest danger to freedom of speech in our future lies not just in government oppression, but in the limits put on us by corporations.

And, I have ranted on this long and often…especially about fascism:  fascism can be right or left wing – or an amalgam of the two.  But, by the very classical definition of the term, when you have collusion between government and big business, the result of which is the erosion of freedoms of the populace, you have ‘fascism’!

Without more ado, here is Thunderf00t’s warning:

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Who decides on your medical treatment?

September 10, 2009 — xanthippa

For ever, I have been pointing out the shortcomings of socialized medicine:  what it boils down to is that the one who picks up the tab gets the final say in which treatments gets picked.  And, if that decision is not made by you or your loved ones, but rather by a bureaucrat who does not know you personally, the decisions may not be exactly the ones you might wish…

Thomas Sowell has put this extremely well in his 4-part series:

Whose medical decisions?

Whose medical decisions?, Part II

Whose medical decisions?, Part III

Whose medical decisions?, Part IV

Posted in freedoms, society, technology. Tags: , , , . 2 Comments »

‘Death by Committee’: British socialized medicare hits a new low

September 4, 2009 — xanthippa

Leave it to the Brits, with their wonderful sense of ‘understatement’, to give the expression ‘death by committee’ a very real and unpleasant meaning!

As slowly but surely becomes true of every ‘nationalized’ or ‘universal, government-run’ medical system, there is not enough ‘medicine’ (space, equipment, staff, meds…) to go serve everyone in Britain (once known as ‘Great Britain’ – now, they are too ‘politically correct’ to call themselves ‘Great’).

It would appear that British National Health Service has found a nifty new way to ration their medical care:  kill the ‘old people’!

Professor Peter Millard, Emeritus Professor of Geriatrics, University of London, was among a group of medical experts who wrote to the Telegraph warning that patients with terminal illnesses are being made to die prematurely under an NHS scheme to help end their lives.

Another article on the same topics says:

Under NHS guidance introduced in a number of hospitals to help doctors and medical staff deal with dying patients, they can then have fluid and drugs withdrawn and many are put on continuous sedation until they pass away.

But this approach can also mask the signs that their condition is improving, the experts warned in their letter.

So, if a patient is judged to be ‘ready’, all their medical care is taken away and they are euthanized.  Simple – and it might just free up enough beds to get rid of those pesky statistics about babies being born in hospital hallways, or even toilets…even turning those horny women away seems to cause bad press.

Yeah….

In my never-humble-opinion, people in the UK are being denied medical care, universally, from ‘cradle to grave’!

So, how does this ‘death by committee’ work?

Well, there is this agency, NICE (National Institute of Coordinated Experiments…or was that National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence…or is there a difference?)   which nicely approved this ‘ticker box’ form (you know, there are questions, boxes to ‘tick off’ and the number of ‘ticks’ and the spots they are in will ‘objectively’ determine next course of action).  The ‘medical care team’ – and this team apparently MUST include A doctor…so, the rest are, presumably, administrators and bureaucrats – will ‘tick off’ the boxes.

Notice that this ‘medical care team’ does not include the patient, or any representatives, friends or family of the patient.  This is purely to ensure the ‘ticks’ are made in an objective manner and no mushy sentimentality would come in the way of ‘efficiency’ and ‘excellence’.  In other words, these ‘death committees’ (or ‘death boards, as they have also been called) only produce ‘professional ticks’!

If the ‘ticks’ add up a certain way, the patient gets taken off medicine, denied food and water (apparently, this happens even if the patient is able to feed him/her self), and given a ‘parting shot’ of drugs that kill him/her over the next 24 hours.

Attention is paid to every detail!  For example, these drugs also conveniently sedate the patient as part of the killing process:  so no protest is possible and any signs that the patient is getting better are masked.  It’s ‘neater’ this way.  Dead patients hardly ever complain, you know…

Now, now, there is no point getting all ticked off about it!

They have this form here, which proves that you were supposed to have died already, and you are just taking too long mucking about!  So, it’s not like anyone can blame them, is it?  They are just helping you do the right thing…

In conclusion, I’d like to leave you with this short documentary film:

Posted in opression, politics, society, technology. Tags: , , , , , , . 3 Comments »

Perhaps Bill Gates is not evil…

July 16, 2009 — xanthippa

OK – we all know the guy’s image.

We all also know he’s thrown a lot of money around to change this image….with very little success.

But, with this one, he just might convince me!

Bill Gates is releasing all seven Messenger Lectures that Richard Feynman gave at Cornell in 1964.  With subtitles!!!  (And, let’s admit it – Richard Feynman’s accent was not all that easy to understand.  So, subtitles are a really, really good thing.)

Unless, of course, this is some trick to get us all to download some really invasive software in order to watch them:  ‘the Feynman lure’ would be iresistable to any mortal!

h/t:  The Reference Frame

Posted in society, technology. Tags: . 1 Comment »

Flesh-eating military robots?!?!?

July 15, 2009 — xanthippa

OK, I do not usually just point to another story….

But this one is just SOOO bizzare!

Apparently, someone has seriously proposed that the best way to power a new generation of military robots is to have them search their environment for ‘biomass’ which they would then  collect and use as fuel.  This ‘biomass’ would include human flesh…

The name?

‘EATR Bots’!!!

h/t:  Dvorak Uncensored

Update: ‘Switched’ has a good article on this – with a diagram and lots of links….so this is looking less and less like just a bad joke!  And just in case you wondered:  ‘EATR’ stands for the Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot…

Posted in society, technology. Tags: , , . 3 Comments »

The future of broadband in Canada: have a voice!

June 5, 2009 — xanthippa

Tim Denton, the CRTC commissioner, has recently made the following statement:

‘The rights of Canadians to talk and communicate across the Internet are vastly too important to be subjected to a scheme of government licensing. If more Canadians were aware how close their communications have come to being regulated by this Commission, not by our will but because we administer an obsolete statute, they would be rightly concerned. Fortunately, good sense prevailed and the evidence for intervention was not yet present. But this confluence of facts may not always be there. Thus the call for a government review of a digital transition strategy is both wise and opportune. Let us fix this problem.’


via Michael Geist

And while I do not believe that the CRTC has the right to control our wavelengths, the reality is that they do.  And, to their credit, they have (as Michael Geist’s post puts it so eloquently), decided to keep their hands off the internet – for now.

But, they will go on to develop a new comprehensive national digital strategy…

All of our voices should be heard, to help ensure that the net truly remains neutral – or, at least as neutral as possible.  This is important:  still, most of us are not sure how to best be heard…

Which is why I am going to quote the following text from Campaign for Democratic Media almost in its entirety:

Citizens from coast to coast are expected to engage in Canada’s first-ever online LIVE video-streamed national conversation about the future of broadband in this country.

During Town Hall meetings in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver, viewers can take part in the confab through live, real-time online chat available at theREALnews.com, rabble.ca, TheTyee, Beyond Robson, SaveOurNet.ca and other participating websites.

The first of these innovative town hall meetings takes place in Toronto on Monday, June 8. The participating websites will start streaming video at 7:30 p.m.

The town hall events will bring together web innovators, entrepreneurs, social change leaders, cultural workers and citizens to discuss the future of the Internet in Canada. The sessions will be recorded and will form part of the citizen testimony that SaveOurNet.ca’s Steve Anderson will use to guide his presentation to the CRTC at the July 6 traffic management hearing.

SaveOurNet.ca is encouraging people who live within commuting distance to attend the town hall sessions to meet and mingle with fellow Netizens who want a say in Canada’s future Internet.

Here are the details, along with some updated information:

TORONTO • June 8 • 7 p.m.
The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St. West

Speakers include:
Mark Surman, Executive Director, Mozilla Foundation
Olivia Chow, NDP Member of Parliament
Steve Anderson, co-founder, SaveOurNet.ca
Rocky Gaudrault, CEO, Teksavvy Solutions Inc.
Derek Blackadder, National Representative with CUPE

Special guests:
Jesse Brown, Search Engine
David Skinner, Communications Professor, York University
Kim Elliot, Rabble.ca
Mark Kuznicki, remarkk consultant
Dan O’Brien, ACTRA
Ben Lewis, Canadian Federation of Students
Wayne Mcphail, w8nc

REGISTER TO RESERVE A SEAT: http://saveournet.ca/toronto

OTTAWA • June 10 • 7 p.m.
Ottawa Public Library Main Branch, 120 Metcalfe St.

Speakers include:
Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law, University of Ottawa, blogger
Charlie Angus, NDP MP, Heritage and Culture critic
Rocky Gaudrault, CEO, Teksavvy Solutions Inc.
Bill St. Arnaud, Chief Research Officer for CANARIE Inc.

Introduction by Steve Anderson, co-founder, SaveOurNet.ca
Discussion Facilitator: Marita Moll, TeleCommunities Canada

Special guests:
Mike Gifford, founder of Open Concept Consulting Inc. Leslie Regan Shade, Communications Professor, Concordia University Graham Cox, Canadian Federation of Students

REGISTER TO RESERVE A SEAT: http://saveournet.ca/ottawa

VANCOUVER • June 20 • (time to be determined)
Vancouver ChangeCamp, BCIT, downtown campus, 555 Seymour St.

Speakers include:
Rocky Gaudrault, CEO, Teksavvy Solutions Inc.
Steve Anderson, co-founder, SaveOurNet.ca
(More to come)

REGISTER TO RESERVE A SEAT: http://vanchangecamp.eventbrite.com/

Canada’s FIRST live INTERNET DANCE PARTY will hit Vancouver on Saturday, June 20! This is a fundraiser for host SaveOurNet.ca as well as the official after party for VanChangeCamp.

6 to 8 p.m. – Social & Film Screening
8 p.m. to 2 a.m. – Internet Dance Party
Gallery Gachet

Special Guests:
Quest Poetics feat: Mello Black, Mario Vaira, & DJ Hayze
More guests to be announced soon!

RESERVE A SPOT: http://internetdanceparty.eventbrite.com/

Join the Facebook group of your local Town Hall:
http://saveournet.ca/content/town-hall-facebook-groups

Organizing these events would not be possible without your contributions. Please donate today:
http://saveournet.ca/donate

If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Campaign for Democratic Media.

Posted in debate, education, freedoms, opression, politics, science, society, technology. Tags: , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment »

Al Jazeera in English – an email campaign to lobby the CRTC

May 29, 2009 — xanthippa

Tonight, my hubby received the following email:


From: Campaign for Democratic Media – democraticmedia@gmail.com
Date: Thu, May 28, 2009 at 5:00 PM
Subject: Canada needs Al Jazeera!
To:[name redacted]
Broadcast Diversity

We want Al Jazeera English!

Al Jazeera English is being considered for airing in Canada by the CRTC, the federal broadcast regulator. Tell the CRTC to give its approval to list AJE as an “eligible” service so that Canadian cable and satellite companies can carry it.

The CRTC has begun a 30-day consultation period when Canadians are being asked whether AJE should be allowed in Canada. Comments must be received by the CRTC no later than Monday, June 8.

Al Jazeera English is renowned for its high journalistic standards; for its fearless, unembedded reporting, including in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; for giving a global voice to the South; for speaking truth to power; and for its diversity of voices from around the world.p>

Tell the CRTC that you want to see Al Jazeera English in Canada.

Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):
CRTC Commissioners

Below is the sample letter:

Subject: Canada needs Al Jazeera!

Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

I urge you to approve Al Jazeera English’s application to broadcast in Canada.

Canadians live in one of the world’s most multicultural and diverse countries. It is important for Canadians to be able to get the diversity of perspectives AJE offers in its unique mix of international news, current affairs and documentaries. Al Jazeera English has 69 bureaus and already broadcasts in more than 100 countries. AJE has more than 1,200 highly experienced staff from nearly 50 nationalities including more than 45 ethnicities, making Al Jazeera English’s newsroom the most diverse in the world.

AJE offers balanced news coverage and has been widely credited for giving a global voice to the South. The Canadian audience is internationally minded and in this globalized age, people want news from all corners of the Earth.

Al Jazeera English will open a Canadian news bureau if it is permitted to broadcast in Canada. This will make AJE the only international broadcas ter located in Canada making Canadian stories available to the world.

Al Jazeera English is acclaimed for its diversity and quality in journalism. Canadians’ communication rights, including the right to receive and impart information regardless of frontiers (Article 19 of the UN’s Declaration of Human Rights), demand that the award-winning Al Jazeera English be approved for broadcasting in Canada. Thank you.

Sincerely,
[name redacted]

cc:
Campaign for Democratic Media
Ethnic Channels Group
Take Action!
Instructions:
Click here to take action on this issue
Tell-A-Friend:
Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.
Tell-a-Friend!
What’s At Stake:

Al Jazeera English requires CRTC permission to be able to broadcast in Canada.

If it wins CRTC approval, AJE will open a Canadian news bureau, making it the only international broadcaster telling our stories to the world.

Al Jazeera English is acclaimed for its diversity and quality in journalism. Canadians have the right to receive and impart information regardless of frontiers (Article 19 of the UN’s Declaration of Human Rights).
Campaign Expiration Date:
June 9, 2009

If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Campaign for Democratic Media.

Personally, I am torn…  I am not particularly keen on the whole ‘Al Jazeera English’ getting any ‘official blessing’ from anyone.

At the same time, I reject the very notion that the CRTC has ANY jurisdiction over the ‘airwaves’:  as such, lobbying them for – or against – anything would amount to a recognition of their jurisdiction, and thus something I find morally unacceptable.

Still, I thought this interesting enough to let everyone make their own minds up about!


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Posted in freedoms, opression, politics, religion, society, technology. Tags: , , , , , . 2 Comments »

Warrantless searches permitted – if you have a radio at home…

May 23, 2009 — xanthippa

This is for our US cousins – and, if anyone knows the law in Canada and other Western countries on this, I would appreciate the info:

Apparently, the FCC has the right to enter and search/inspect – without a warrant – any private home where RF devices are in use.

You know, like radio, garage-door openers, wireless router for your internet…even cordless phones, burglar alarms or baby monitors…

Wired.com has the scoop:

‘It would appear that a never-challenged, little known law from 1934…You may not know it, but if you have a wireless router, a cordless phone, remote car-door opener, baby monitor or cellphone in your house, the FCC claims the right to enter your home without a warrant at any time of the day or night in order to inspect it.’

…

‘The FCC claims it derives its warrantless search power from the Communications Act of 1934, though the constitutionality of the claim has gone untested in the courts.’

…

‘But refusing the FCC admittance can carry a harsh financial penalty. In a 2007 case, a Corpus Christi, Texas, man got a visit from the FCC’s direction-finders after rebroadcasting an AM radio station through a CB radio in his home. An FCC agent tracked the signal to his house and asked to see the equipment; Donald Winton refused to let him in, but did turn off the radio. Winton was later fined $7,000 for refusing entry to the officer.’

…

‘But if inspectors should notice evidence of unrelated criminal behavior — say, a marijuana plant or stolen property — a Supreme Court decision suggests the search can be used against the resident.’

So, let’s get this straight…

  • The FCC’s agents can enter any private property where they have a reason to believe someone is using any RF device.
  • Denying the agents entry is illegal
  • While the agents are on the private property, they are empowered to search it for RF devices and inspect the devices
  • If they uncover any evidence of ‘illegal activity’ of any kind, they can collect the evidence
  • This evidence can be handed over to police and can be used to prosecute the resident

Ah!

So, the US is not becoming a ‘police state’ – it is much too sophisticated for that!  Instead, the police use minions and sidekicks to do their ‘dirty work’ and remain beyond criticism…

Sweet!

Hat tip:  Dvorak Uncensored

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