Orwell got it wrong though. The problem isn't one great big brother, but a whole lot of nosy little ones. The private companies have always had this for billing practices, marketing, etc.
Now me--I've never bought a cell phone, and only use a library at a computer. The nearby Dog Racing track allowed free computer acess--and who knows what filth is on them. Something like that are what terrorists use.
One other thing to remember. When the second amendment was enacted, people didn't have the arms nuts use to shoot up schools. Then--the fourth amendment--which I take to mean "don't kick my door down"--was about
slowing down lynch mobs until the most thoughtful person in authority could make a warrant.
Now, an argument can be made that things do need to be
sped up.
It sounds nice to say "you need a warrant first before you look at this data."
But how do you know who needs a warrant? Have a blindfolded agent hold a dousing plumb bob over the yellow pages?
Sadly, one of the best ways to get guns off the street is stop and frisk, since we don't have gun-detecting tricorders yet. We say it is wrong to profile--and yet that is how the murderer of Medger Evers was brought to justice. You don't look equally--you look for every redneck with a rebel flag and go after them.
The idea is that maybe 2000 people--or more--may be saying the word "bomb" right now. A computer looks for other words in context--and understands that 1998 of them are talking about a souped up car or a bad movie, where two of them also use the word "plant"
That is where the warrant comes in. Spy craft isn't so much who to look at, but who to ignore. Without it--we are actually all suspects evenly. A net lets out more water than it takes in after all.
That's the idea at least.
Hugh Downs once called the internet a street. Cops use their eyes to see what is going on in public--no warrant needed.
One could make the case that--if you had your own private lines and computers, power--your own architecture--then they need a warrant--and since this all started as the ARPANET anyway, this could all be a case of "you take the kings money, you march to his drumbeat."
Scary, I know.
Data retention isn't too far off the mark. Look at the NSA's bridge
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/nsa-director-modeled-war-room-after-star-treks-enterprise/
http://www.gq.com/blogs/the-feed/20...looks-like-bridge-of-starship-enterprise.html
