A documentary examination of newly declassified files reveals that the US government used its powers to unconstitutionally surveil and harass Martin Luther King, Jr. [ MLK/FBI credits: Dir: Sam Pollard/ 104 min/ Documentary/ Abuse of Power, Freedom of Speech, Search & Seizure/ 2020] External Reviews "A useful overview of a chilling abuse of federal power.” --National … [Read more...]
Do Not Resist (2016)
An examination of the increasingly casual and routine use by ordinary police of military tactics and high-powered weaponry, and how such militarization is changing the citizen-state relationship. [ Do Not Resist credits: Dir: Craig Atkinson/ 72 min/ Documentary/ Law & Liberty, Search & Seizure, Legalize Drugs] In Do Not Resist the viewer gets an extended … [Read more...]
Snowden (2016)
When a National Security Agency (NSA) employee discovers the agency is routinely spying on American citizens, in violation of the US Constitution, he risks all to tell the American public. Based on a true story. [ Snowden credits: Dir: Oliver Stone/ Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo/ 134 min/ Biography, Drama, Thriller/ Search & Seizure, Working for … [Read more...]
Deep Web (2015)
The trial of Ross Ulbricht -- a.k.a. 'Dread Pirate Roberts' -- reveals a battle between libertarian techies trying to build and maintain a decentralized, encrypted and unregulated Internet and government operatives trying to stop them. [ Deep Web credits: Dir: Alex Winter/ 90 min/ Documentary/ Legalize Drugs, Search & Seizure] External Reviews "Alex Winter’s Deep … [Read more...]
Civil Asset Forfeiture: Libertarian Video Shorts
Comedian John Oliver mocks civil forfeiture law, highlighting abusive cases. [16 min] Philadelphia uses forfeiture law to seize citizen property on a routine basis to fund, among other things -- salaries for its own staff. [4 min] Two IRS agents seize an innocent grandmother's money because she made regular cash deposits from her small business; she … [Read more...]
Citizenfour (2014)
ACADEMY AWARD WINNER: BEST DOCUMENTARY WINNER: TOP 25 LIBERTARIAN DOCUMENTARIES The story of how Edward Snowden revealed for the first time bombshell proof that the U.S. government is routinely and secretly engaged in domestic spying. [ Citizenfour credits: Dir: Laura Poitras/ 114 min/ Documentary/ Fourth Amendment, Search & Seizure] If a documentary can also be a … [Read more...]
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
A WWII veteran, transformed into a superhero by an experimental serum, discovers that the counter-terrorism unit for which he works has been corrupted and that its plans to preemptively eliminate threats through global surveillance may be a cover for something more insidious. [ Captain America: The Winter Soldier credits: Dir: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo/ Chris Evans, Samuel L. … [Read more...]
United States of Secrets (2014)
PBS Frontline examines the secret history of the U.S. government's unprecedented global surveillance program and the role played by Silicon Valley. [ United States of Secrets credits: Dir: Michael Kirk/ 168 min (Part 1 & Part 2 combined)/ Documentary/ Search & Seizure] External Reviews "A blow-by-blow account of the Bush administration’s embrace of potentially … [Read more...]
The Lives of Others (2006)
An East German Stasi agent becomes obsessed with the lives of a young couple he has been assigned to surveil. [ The Lives of Others credits: Dir: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck/ 137 min/ Drama, Thriller, Foreign/ Anti-socialism, Search & Seizure/ German] External Reviews "The Lives of Others is that rare thing: a best foreign language Oscar-winner that fully … [Read more...]
Enemy of the State (1998)
A Washington D.C. lawyer inadvertently discovers that a Congressman was assassinated by a cabal of renegade NSA operatives, and is himself hunted by those assassins--via military satellites, electronic surveillance, tracking devices and every other spy apparatus now available to the Orwellian state. [ Enemy of the State credits: Dir: Tony Scott/ Will Smith, Gene Hackman, John … [Read more...]