It isn't so easy to mind your own business anymore. Secret federal courts. Mysterious government agencies. Warrantless wiretaps. Automatic license plate readers. Digital data collection. GPS tracking. Unmanned aerial surveillance drones. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Chips. TSA pat downs and body scanners. IRS discrimination. Rogue hackers.

So much for our Fourth Amendment rights to be secure "in our persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures."

Rampant federal disregard for the Bill of Rights isn't a conspiracy theorist's punch line anymore, this is reality.

The 21st Century looks a lot like 1984.

The government – our government – is using surveillance programs to track us. These secret programs have code names like: Boundless Informant, Carnivore, MUSCULAR, PRISM, Hemisphere, NUCLEON, MAINWAY, XKeyscore, and too many more to list.

Earlier this year, in June, the British daily newspaper, The Guardian, published the first in a long (and still not yet fully realized) line of leaked classified NSA documents, provided by former government contractor turned whistleblower Edward Snowden. These leaked files document government-led surveillance of telephone records, e-mail messages, Skype conversations, and through a top-secret program called XKeyscore, "nearly everything a user does on the internet."

To date, the federal government has not provided any legitimate warrant requests for this information, instead relying on Section 215 of the Patriot Act as the justification for this widespread, improper collection of private data.

Yes, that's the same Patriot Act that was enacted to fight terrorism. Now, Mr. Obama and his nosy government agents are using it to justify sifting through your private records, including the ones from your bank, your phone company, and your credit card companies, to name just a few. They can even force your financial advisor and accountant to turn over your files!

Described by one former Senior U.S. Intelligence official as an approach designed to "collect the haystack in order to look for the needle," the NSA sweeps up massive amounts of digital metadata about all of us, and then stores that data in massive storage centers financed by the very same taxpayers they're spying on. The newest NSA data center in Utah has already cost American taxpayers an estimated $1.7 billion, and the price tag is rising daily.

 Think You Don't Have Anything to Hide?

Already, the government has identified pro-lifers, conservatives, libertarians, gun owners, and survivalists, even those who own precious metals or firearms as "potential terrorists." Learning about edible plants, basic first aid, and paying with cash when you shop could also lead to your increased surveillance by local and federal law enforcement that see you as a threat.

The argument that the only people who need to worry is those who have something to hide is quickly becoming irrelevant as the federal government slowly, but significantly, expands their definition of "potential terrorists." There are few left in the U.S. who fit within the government's definition of those who have "nothing to hide."

Keeping up with new threats to your privacy is a full-time job nowadays. In light of these recent revelations, I am determined to keep my readers abreast of developing stories, newly realized threats, and real, implementable solutions for the times we live in.

New Publication Offers Real World Solutions

My readers and I have long understood the danger to personal liberty that arises as a result of a federal government operating with little, if any limitations on their actions, but never have their transgressions been so glaringly reprehensible, so flagrantly unconstitutional, and so evident to a vast majority of the American electorate.

I've been publishing newsletters, special reports, self-reliance manuals and other books for more than two decades, and I have to tell you, I've never seen so much disillusionment and anxiety over the direction of our country.

Not a day goes by now that we don't hear something in the news about Mr. Obama or his administration proposing new ways to curtail our freedoms, increase the level of intervention on our lives, or take control over more and more private issues like healthcare. I want my readers to be fully protected.

You really need to understand how this works.

So many people have put off confronting these issues, and I totally get why. Sometimes, it's just too overwhelming. So many privacy-stealing initiatives are being carried out by our government at once that it's hard to know where to start.

That's exactly why I decided to bring my one-million-plus subscribers my all-new, PRIVACY EDGE ALERT SYSTEM. Each Friday, beginning today, my PRIVACY EDGE ALERT SYSTEM will arrive in your inbox, packed with the latest in privacy-related news, and easy to understand real-world solutions you can take now to better protect yourself and your family from the prying eyes of nosy criminals and government operatives alike.

You won't want to miss it.

Big Brother is Watching;  http://www.independentlivingnews.com/il/low-profile-living_ihnp.php?utm_source=131122LPLNP&keycode=131122LPLNP

Ultimate Guide to Low-Profile Living:

http://www.independentlivingnews.com/il/low-profile-living_ihnp.php?utm_source=131122LPLNP&keycode=131122LPLNP

Yours in Better Privacy,

Lee Bellinger, Publisher

Independent Living