I am seriously concerned that the erosion of civil liberties that the George W. Bush era typified continues under the president that promised "change we can live with". Or whatever promise he made. Which I am sure was made is weasel words, designed to be wriggled out of under appropriate circumstances.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement continues to sieze domain names without any judicial process. This appears to be part of a concerted strategy likely to lead to increasingly peremptory challenge to and confiscation of domain names on what is essentially an administration whim.

At the same time the FBI appears to feel that it is entitled to break the law in order to uphold it, and continues to violate the civil liberties of American citizens. Apparently they are planning to expand the surveillance laws still further, in a move reminiscent of the German Third Reich, that well-known defender of public liberty, and feel it is entirely appropriate to take over two years to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request for information. This is not a good advert for American democracy.

Finally, the administration appears to have no problems with secrecy when it comes to their own actions. You may remember they recently filed suit against Twitter to try and retrieve information users who had allegedly communicated with the allegedly criminal organizers of WikiLeaks. What you may not know is that they filed that motion with the court under seal rather than being prepared to state on what basis they were trawling for information. The judge in that case has now ordered the records unsealed, so while Secretary of State Clinton might try and sound as though she is on the side of freedom actions speak louder than words. It appears as though the Obama administration is no more concerned with Americans' human rights than any previous government.

It really does make you wonder whether democracy is worth protecting.