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The illusion of control…

… and the obsessive “need to know” are two characteristics of some of my least favorite personality types. These folks, who wrap an “insecurity blanket” around their central core of fear, desperately seek control in their own timid lives in this very dangerous world. :-)

These folks do things like place microphones in the ceilings of workplaces to listen in on their own employees (listening in on phone conversations is “old hat”), and they place “traffic cameras” at every conceivable intersection, likely for automated facial recognition. In Livermore, they hang cameras and infrared sensors around their homes. Their desire to learn about the lives of others, perhaps because they have no lives of their own, :-) fuels behavior that approaches the monomaniacal and obsessive-compulsive. (Note added February 19, 2010: It has always struck me as ironic that “control freaks” are also usually obsessive “busybodies” who seek to learn information that will only disturb them… further! :-) The phrase “blissfully unaware” could never be applied to these folks. :-) )

I was reminded again (it is EASY to remember this in California!) that Democrats are no more interested in our civil liberties than are Republicans, when the Obama administration’s Justice Department, on Saturday, told an appeals court that police should be able to learn the locations of mobile devices without a search warrant.

A Justice Department attorney (don’t ever let this guy sit on the U.S. Supreme Court) told the Third Circuit Court of Appeals that there is no constitutional problem with obtaining records from cellular phone providers that can reveal the locations of handheld and mobile devices. According to CNET:

There “is no constitutional bar” to acquiring “routine business records held by a communications service provider,” said Mark Eckenwiler, a senior attorney in the criminal division of the Justice Department. He added, “The government is not required to use a warrant when it uses a tracking device.”

It is ESPECIALLY nice when the person under investigation has PURCHASED the expensive tracking device! :-) What a cost saving for the taxpayer! :-) And the telecommunications company tracking him/her/you :-) turns a hefty profit on the “service” contract at the same time…! :-)

(Note added February 26, 2010: Residents of what was formerly “East Germany” [Deutsche Demokratische Republik or DDR], which was FAMOUS for its widespread, costly, and inefficient mass surveillance of its citizens] – THIS is how you do mass surveillance PROFITABLY – a capitalistic solution to a common “problem.”) :-)

A law professor at the University of San Francisco had a different view:

“When the government acquires historical cell location information, it effectively commandeers our cell phones and turns them into electronic trackers that report, without our knowledge or consent, where we have been and how long we have spent there,” Susan Freiwald, a law professor at the University of San Francisco, told the court on Friday. “We should be able to use our cell phones without them creating a virtual map of our every movement and association.”

Freiwald, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and the the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) filed briefs saying that the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment provides Americans with at least some privacy protections that shield their whereabouts from police who are not armed with search warrants. The groups also said that current law gives judges the flexibility to require search warrants based on probable cause.

Does it “make sense” to allow government snooping into the locations of ALL who carry cell phones, without probable cause? Does the government’s desire to do so make sense, or merely reflect the desire of certain personalities to obsessively seek knowledge about others in the mistaken belief that it gives them more control in their own lives?

(Note added March 21, 2010: The mistaken belief that “Knowledge is Power” [sorry, Ferdowsi and Francis Bacon were WRONG :-) on this one!] parallels the mistaken belief that “Perception is Reality.”)

Two days before, CNET had covered the push by the “Feds” for tracking cell phones without warrants. The locations of cell phones can be determined through GPS and triangulation technologies.

The latter article also makes reference to several movies about the tracking of cell phones and to a statement in a drug-trafficking case that “if Navas <defendant> intended to keep the cell phone’s location private, he simply could have turned it off.” :-) Yeah. Right.

First off, I believe that “art” mimicked “life” in those early movies, not the other way around. The tracking of cell phones, by governments in collaboration with telecommunications companies, has no doubt occurred for years before coming to the attention of the courts, which of necessity tend to lag behind the technological changes. As for being able to shut a phone off to avoid its tracking – the suggestion is laughable and would have been considered a design flaw. Who builds a phone that can be used to track terrorists only when the phone is switched on? :-)

In a similar vein, the FBI, state computer security investigators, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, and Department of Homeland Security folks have unanimously expressed their support for asking Internet Service Providers to record which Web sites are visited by customers and to retain those logs for two years. Why not? :-) It would make their jobs easier. Nevermind if your constitutional rights are trampled in the process…. Hey, the Brits are doing it (1, 2), and bad ideas travel fast! (Who knows? The Brits may have gotten the ideas from the U.S.!)

There are times when I think that a lot of Americans would be happy living their lives in a jail cell, if they were guaranteed regular free meals and free cable TV. :-)

Let’s hope that fleeting thought is mistaken. :-)

(Note added February 19, 2010: Yesterday’s news had a further example of the obsessive “need to know” of some personality types. A class-action lawsuit has been served upon the Lower Merion School District of Ardmore, PA, which issues laptops to its students. The parents of student Blake Robbins received word in November from an official at Harriton High School that their son has been involved in “improper behavior in his home.” An assistant principal at Harriton High, Lindy Matsko, confirmed that the school district “in fact has the ability to remotely activate the Webcam contained in a student’s personal laptop computer issued by the school district at any time it chose, and to view and capture whatever images were in front of the Webcam.”

The article on CNET further states:

The Philadelphia Daily News reported that the 17-page Robbins complaint makes what seems an obvious but still material point: “Many of the images captured and intercepted may consist of images of minors, and their parents or friends, in compromising or embarrassing positions, including, but not limited to, in various stages of dress or undress.”

See also this article on CNN abou the lawsuit. [Note added on February 20, 2010: And THIS one….] [Note added February 22, 2010: See also this column by Larry Magid on activating Webcams without spy software. :-) ] [Note added February 24, 2010: A judge ordered on Monday that the school’s “employees or agents are prohibited from remotely activating any and all Webcams embedded in laptop computers.” A class-action suit may still occur in the matter. Other school districts that employ remotely activated cameras may reconsider their practices after the ruling. Civil libertarians score one against the control freaks.]

So kids [and adults], cover up that Web cam if there is anything that Big Brother should not see.)

-Bill at

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