Younger Americans laugh at the notion that there is some basic right to privacy. Their adept ability to scan and search the Web, their library of texted and other electronic images and videos and their ability to poll their peers for whatever is missing may not mirror NSA Prism program, but they know what they know… and can find out. The is a hovering awareness that the GPS capacity in most smart phones is being recorded and “saved” by local and national police authorities ready to challenge alibies and place people at any given moment in their lives. We know that NSA-derived information has filtered down into local police authorities to prompt “stops” and further inquiries. Hey, who cares about the Fourth and Sixth Amendments of the United States Constitution when government wants to know?!
Arguments that such procedures are protected by the “secret, behind closed doors with no real oversight” Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court should fall on deaf years. First you have to trust that court, with minimal standards, and second, you have to trust your government that is addicted to wiretaps and eavesdropping, including of most of its own citizens. Foreign communications? Yeah, right! The system is rife with abuse: “A federal judge sharply rebuked the National Security Agency in 2011 for repeatedly misleading the court that oversees its surveillance on domestic soil, including a program that is collecting tens of thousands of domestic e-mails and other Internet communications of Americans each year, according to a secret ruling made public on [August 21st].” New York Times, August 21st.
Private sources can also generate relevant “marketing information” with the ubiquitous cookies that they plant and poll inside your computer and mobile platforms. Casinos have been scanning patrons’ faces for years, looking for gambling miscreants banned from their premises. Experts can track your entrance and movement into bricks and mortar stores and might even be looking at where your eyes are focusing. In many cities, very much the case in the U.K., cameras are on virtually every urban street corner, being monitored by local police and recorded “just in case.” Moore’s Law has given us an exponential ability to store huge amounts of data, and that is precisely what we are doing.
Airport screenings can get downright R-rated, and entering massive sporting events often requires a bag check and passage through a magnetic metal detector with more intrusive scans when the buzzer goes off. And as terrorist moments accumulate, increasingly stricter programs are implemented: “[F]ans [are] starting to adapt to the N.F.L.’s new, stricter bag policy, which was put in place after the Boston Marathon bombings in April. With few exceptions, fans attending games are allowed to take into stadiums only small purses and handbags; small, clear plastic or vinyl bags; and one-gallon plastic freezer bags.
“Shoulder bags, backpacks, briefcases, fanny packs, camera and binocular cases and even diaper bags are now forbidden. Coolers, thermoses and seat cushions with zippers are also banned. Blankets are still allowed, as are gloves, hats and other items that can be stuffed in pockets or worn.” New York Times, August 20th. Fun, huh? Retinal scans, anyone?
Terrorists seem to be winning; we seem to be very terrified and willing to give up many traits which may have defined us as Americans. The expendable part of our lives appears most definitely appears to be this outdated (?) notion of privacy. Orwell must be rolling in his grave. And it’s not like the bulk of this information is being used in connection with terrorism. Given the massive haystack of stored data, the government can always go back and look for private stuff if they have an inkling of anything they consider suspicious. And we are getting better and better at finding needles in that haystack as our analytical sophistication grows daily. Judges with clear constitutional standards and warrants are significantly absent from these processes.
While you don’t even have to leave the privacy of your home to be “scanned,” if you show your face in a crowd, you are leaving visual and traceable fingerprints of your presence for instant or future analysis: “The Department of Homeland Security tested a crowd-scanning project called the Biometric Optical Surveillance System — or BOSS — last fall after two years of government-financed development. Although the system is not ready for use, researchers say they are making significant advances. That alarms privacy advocates, who say that now is the time for the government to establish oversight rules and limits on how it will someday be used…
“The release of the documents about the government’s efforts to overcome those challenges comes amid a surge of interest in surveillance matters inspired by the leaks by Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor. Interest in video surveillance was also fueled by the attack on the Boston Marathon, where suspects were identified by officials looking through camera footage.
“In a sign of how the use of such technologies can be developed for one use but then expanded to another, the BOSS research began as an effort to help the military detect potential suicide bombers and other terrorists overseas at “outdoor polling places in Afghanistan and Iraq,” among other sites, the documents show. But in 2010, the effort was transferred to the Department of Homeland Security to be developed for use instead by the police in the United States.
“After a recent test of the system, the department recommended against deploying it until more improvements could be made. A department official said the contractor was ‘continuing to develop BOSS,’ although there is no sign of when it may be done. But researchers on the project say they made progress, and independent specialists say it is virtually inevitable that someone will make the broader concept work as camera and computer power continue to improve.” NY Times. They say it will take five years to perfect… yeah, right! Our elected representatives squirm as most people are “just getting used to it.” How do you feel about these increasing intrusions?
I’m Peter Dekom, and as you are reading this, that fact is probably being recorded somewhere!
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