Domestic Surveillance: October 2007 Archives

Ever since I started using a cell phone, I've loved the sense of security it gives me. If I'm late or lost, I can call my dinner companion or a friendly operator. If the car breaks down, or there's another emergency, I have a lifeline in my purse.

GPS navigation has appealed for similar safety and security reasons. That woman on the OnStar commercials, who is so relieved when she's able to get help from a remote customer service god after she locks herself out of her car, is someone most of us would tend to identify with.

But there are ramifications to these technologies that we haven't discussed openly. We can assume that many who have been targeted as a result of anti-war or anti-administration affiliation have endured surveillance of the following varieties as an aspect of the widespread warrantless wiretapping abuse.
 
Did you know that law enforcement officials can demand that your cell phone company activate the microphone in your phone remotely? Your cell then becomes a roving microphone recording events around you whether or not the phone is on.  Additionally, cell phones track your location through communication with the nearest tower. As long as you have it with you and turned on, your location can be identified.

"Home of the free"? Try "A little freer than Singapore".

I don't see any evidence on the news or in my daily interactions that most U.S. residents realize that ours is one of the top surveillance states in the developed world. I didn't know it myself until I stumbled upon  a 2006 Privacy International report christening us an "Extensive Surveillance Society", a distinction we share with Thailand and the Philippines.  We're just behind China, Russia, Singapore, Malaysia and the U.K., all of which are "Endemic Surveillance Societies."

Don't you think if more us knew we were living in such a relatively restrictive society, we would be demanding our privacy back? The French are freer than we are, for goodness sake!  Shouldn't the Freedom Fries demographic be up in arms?

~~ Privacy International