Originally Posted by garysher

I think it's largely academic and doubt whether the government could do much with such a colossal amount of data.

More sinister is this - between the supermarket loyalty club, the credit card and banking customer database and the cellphone satellite technology "THEY" know a ton of information including exactly what you eat, watch, drive, do for hobbies, where you work, live and go on holiday and where you physically are at any moment to within 6 feet.

Originally Posted by pensacola_niceman

It really sucks

Originally Posted by garysher

Bayesian analysis really really sucks

Originally Posted by yzerman19wingnut

They cleverly disguized that GPS phone requirement as a way for 911 to know where we are if we call them.

And I think I heard somewhere that a court ruled that police didn't need to get a warrant to find out a suspect's location through cell phone information. That is a total crock of shit. They have successfully lojacked every person with a cell phone.

Did you notice that the census people were logging GPS coordinates of every single residence last year in preparation for this year? I have a source who tells me they will be linking things together technologically. Your answers to the census questions, your 1040 and virtually everything they can come up with data-wise on you all linked together. Your phone numbers, your email addresses, everything. Even mapped to information you put out there on Facebook, etc. It's scary what government wants to do with information sometimes. That's why I typically always oppose bigger and more inflated government. I think the Federal government has way overstepped their constitutional responsibilities and rights to the extreme.

Originally Posted by yzerman19wingnut

I'm not that familiar with the EFF but if they act at all like the ACLU then they probably take it a bit too far.

That being said there is no reason why I should be forced to put a government tracking meter on my house. If it's smart enough to save me money on my bill without passing along my data to God only knows who then that's one thing.

But my private information is my property. If they will be collecting it to suit their corporate needs I should

a. have the choice
b. be compensated for their use of my data for anything I don't put out into the public domain.

The by force thing pisses me off. If you want a smart meter on your house, a lojack on your cell phone and a remotely controlled microphone installed in your car then by all means you have the right to have that in your car if you like it. I don't want it in mine. I do obey the law and have nothing to hide. I just know what happens when governments take too much control. They run amok with it and before you know it we will wake up one day in an Orwellian nightmare.

Law enforcement doesn't even need a warrant to collect data about my whereabouts from my cell company. Do you see anything wrong with that?

Originally Posted by HotshotGG

To answer your first question and most Americans I don't think the government particularly cares about you or your business. I say this all of the time to my friend who is a privacy advocate. It's PEOPLE that you should be worried about and what they do with your data not the government. Those fears and concerns should be directed towards companies that do data mining (and trust me a lot of them do). To answer your second question they actually do (well in the case of computers they do. I don't know about cell phones of course that might changed with the "Patriot Act" and they shoved something into one of the subsections of the bill) god only knows what provisions exist in that thing (I will have to read the revisions line by line sometime). In terms of computers as it applies to ISP's in regards to criminal investigations the FBI for example needs a subpoena first to conduct an investigation. I would say generally if you are not a terrorist or with any sleeper cell you will be alright and you will be able to sleep well at night.