/. : Feds Have Access To Cellphone Tracking On Request

AVee openmoko-comunity at avee.org
Mon Nov 26 13:43:31 CET 2007


On Monday 26 November 2007 12:51, Shachar Shemesh wrote:
> flexd wrote:
> > Wow that's alot of replies for something i wrote so quickly.
> > I didn't really mean it all seriously, and im all for being
> > untrackable and all, like you guys say.
> >
> > But if they wanna track me, then fine, they can if they want.
> >
> > I just pity the fool that's gonna sit and monitor my boring life.
>
> The purpose of privacy is not to protect the majority from being snooped
> on. The majority is immune from tracking, simply for not stepping out of
> line. The purpose of privacy is precisely so that people CAN step out of
> line. Most of the people who do not conform to what is called "standard
> practices" at the time are weirdos, imbalanced or criminals, but every
> once in a while the people stepping out of line is doing so because they
> truly and honestly see something the majority doesn't. If they persist
> enough, their "non conformist" behavior of today will become the norm
> tomorrow, simply by dint of it being better.
>
> And this is where giving up privacy really hurts everyone, as a society.
> It makes stepping out of the norm even more difficult than it already
> is, and thus sells our tomorrow for some theoretical gains today.
>
> If people were discouraged from stepping out of line 20 years ago, we
> wouldn't have free software today.

A point well made.
There are several others as well. When it comes to large scale survailance you 
also must ask if you trust everybody who has or might gain access to this 
information, now and in the future. Access to the current location of you and 
other members of your household might, for example, easily reveal there is 
currently nobody at home. A know a certain 'profession' where this is very 
usefull information...

And there are quite a few more arguments, a lot of them can be found here: 
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/05/the_value_of_pr.html 
Be sure to read the comments also.

AVee

-- 
AMAZING BUT TRUE ...
        There is so much sand in Northern Africa that if it were spread out it
        would completely cover the Sahara Desert.




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