The Snitch in Your Pocket

Law enforcement is tracking Americans' cell phones in real time—without the benefit of a warrant.

Amid all the furor over the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program a few years ago, a mini-revolt was brewing over another type of federal snooping that was getting no public attention at all. Federal prosecutors were seeking what seemed to be unusually sensitive records: internal data from telecommunications companies that showed the locations of their customers' cell phones—sometimes in real time, sometimes after the fact. The prosecutors said they needed the records to trace the movements of suspected drug traffickers, human smugglers, even corrupt public officials. But many federal magistrates—whose job is to sign off on search warrants and handle other routine court duties—were spooked by the requests. Some in New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas balked. Prosecutors "were using the cell phone as a surreptitious tracking device," said Stephen W. Smith, a federal magistrate in Houston. "And I started asking the U.S. Attorney's Office, 'What is the legal authority for this? What is the legal standard for getting this information?' " READ MORE: http://www.newsweek.com/id/233916

Privacy Is Dead - Steve Rambam

This speech of privacy expert Steven Rambam gives deep insight into the possibilities of privacy invasion through tools that are freely available on the internet. He gives examples of myspace, facebook, blogs, etc. and also shows how companies like Google or even Domino’s Pizza are using data-mining to get a profile of their customers. One of my favorite quotes is, when he talks about the possibilities that mobile phones offer for data collection:

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PART 2

Cyborg insects