Since the FISA court grants 99.999% of the warrants requested, well, chances are that they are already doing it. And yes, they really thought they'd never get caught:
[President] Obama, too, has said he welcomes the debate over surveillance. But his administration never wanted the debate to be quite so specific.Your government is watching you. The cops are watching where you drive. Corporations, almost all of whom are sociopathically amoral, are also collecting license plate data for whatever purposes suits their need for profits.
That was obvious when Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., asked Litt whether he really believed the government could keep such a vast surveillance program a secret forever.
"Well," Litt replied, "we tried."
The NSA problem can be fixed, maybe. As Congressman Sensenbrenner stated, their authorization expires in 2015 and if there is one thing that Congress is good at, it's blocking legislation. Then it's a matter of catching them collecting and sending their top brass to prison.
To stop the license plate collectors, new legislation is needed. That's going to be harder.
Oh, and by the way, at least for now, it's legal for the government to utter the magic words "suspected of terrorism" and they can hold you forever.
("Free country", my ass.)
There's still a few pieces of data that the NSA isn't collecting because the technology isn't there yet to collect it on the scale they want. But we're working on it here in the Silicon Valley because not only is the NSA a big market, but private businesses that want to track you for profit are a big market too. Sort of like how Google tracks you around the Internet using your Blogger browser cookies for profit so they can better target ads at you. Except bigger. Much bigger. As in, we had V.C.'s drooling and immediately offering us $40M, $80M, or more to start developing it, when one of my bosses pitched it to them, and that was sight unseen, just a cold pitch. Think Google that tracks you around the country using the omnipresent video cameras that are *everywhere*, then puts ads on those big light-up electronic signs by the highway targeted directly at *you*.
ReplyDeleteNo, we didn't accept the $80M. The technology isn't *quite* there yet, the video cameras aren't *quite* good enough to reliably recognize faces, the processing power requirements are still *barely* still out of reach. But it's coming, like some strange hybrid of Orwell's 1984 and Huxley's Brave New World. Even if the NSA gets reined in, private business has no such legal restrictions...
I might have to convert to Islam so I can wear a niqab and mirrored sunglasses.
ReplyDeleteI suspect we'll never, ever see a situation where an average schlub accused of a crime gets access to government data providing an airtight alibi that they were elsewhere at the time.
ReplyDeleteNo, we'll only see that in a few token one-percenter cases, and only those so the government can quell objections to the dissolution of the Fourth Amendment.
I suspect we'll never, ever see a situation where an average schlub accused of a crime gets access to government data providing an airtight alibi that they were elsewhere at the time.
ReplyDeleteActually, I see that happening. If I had a client who was somewhere else, I'd make a discovery demand against the government under Brady v. Maryland. If they refused to produce the data, I'd move for dismissal of the charges.
Might only work in Federal court, but for damn sure, I'd try it in any court.
Be sure to stick a thumbtack in your shoe to change your gait, Misfit, because gait recognition is part of the package too.
ReplyDeleteFor those thinking of wearing the niqab if you are not female or not Muslim, note that masking that hides the face is illegal in most states other than at certain times of the year (Halloween and, in some states, Mardi Gras being the only time it's allowed). That was part of the anti-KKK package of laws that passed after WW2 in most states. The 1st Amendment guarantee of freedom of religion may exempt the niqab from the definition of a "mask" if you're Muslim and female... otherwise, not.
Niqab and sunglasses? Fuhgeddaboudid. There's a microchip in the sunglasses.
ReplyDeleteVery crankily yours,
The New York Crank
"Be sure to stick a thumbtack in your shoe to change your gait"
ReplyDeleteEasier trick... duct tape on the skin, from shoulder blade to shoulder blade.
Nangle, it's already started. And your prediction is off to a good start.
ReplyDeletehttp://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2013-06-12/news/fl-phone-records-fisa-broward-20130612_1_nsa-phone-records-bank-robbery-suspect-cellphone-records