Remember all the hub-bub about the “illegal” wiretapping of international calls from or to people on terrorist watchlists?  You had things like this and this.  Since then the furor has died down and the Obama administration has actually defended and gone to bat in support of the NSA wiretapping program.  Of course, we’ve heard little outcry from those cited in the links above about impeaching Obama over this nor have we heard anything from the media about any outrage over the current administration’s support of the program.  Ok.  Well, now the Obama administration is taking it one step further.  The administration is pushing for warrantless tracking of cell phones here within the United States.  The basis of their argument is that cell phone users have no expectation of privacy given the means of transmission.  At least for the location of the cell phones.  It’s a small leap from no privacy about a cell phone’s location to the data (voice or otherwise) being included in the “no expectation of privacy” clause. 

We’ve seen this in use in NCIS, Enemy of the State and other Hollywood productions.  This isn’t all Hollywood glitz and glamor – this is real and well within the capabilities of the cell phone providers and the government.  While exact positions are not usually persisted, rough locations (cells) are persisted for 6 months to a year depending on the individual provider for each mobile device’s use of the network.  And there are ways to trick the mobile device into using the network to secure such a record.

My argument isn’t for or against this practice but rather an observation of the media and previous opponents to this kind of practice by the government: where are they now?  What has changed such that this isn’t an outrage much like the aforementioned one regard the Bush administration’s efforts.  Those efforts were specific to foreign targets with possible ties to terrorist organizations.  The Obama administration’s efforts are less clear about the target and the rules of engagement.  Think about it.  If you don’t believe that there is a clear bias in the media and that many of the national outcrys against the Bush administration weren’t purely politically driven, then you might want to reconsider it now.

GorT

GorT is an eight-foot-tall robot from the 51ˢᵗ Century who routinely time-travels to steal expensive technology from the future and return it to the past for retroinvention. The profits from this pay all the Gormogons’ bills, including subsidizing this website. Some of the products he has introduced from the future include oven mitts, the Guinness widget, Oxy-Clean, and Dr. Pepper. Due to his immense cybernetic brain, GorT is able to produce a post in 0.023 seconds and research it in even less time. Only ’Puter spends less time on research. GorT speaks entirely in zeros and ones, but occasionally throws in a ڭ to annoy the Volgi. He is a massive proponent of science, technology, and energy development, and enjoys nothing more than taking the Czar’s more interesting scientific theories, going into the past, publishing them as his own, and then returning to take credit for them. He is the only Gormogon who is capable of doing math. Possessed of incredible strength, he understands the awesome responsibility that follows and only uses it to hurt people.