Author Archives: Egg Syntax

Petraeus invisetigation shows how much access law enforcement has

[Note: I do not give a tinker’s damn about Petraeus and who he may have been sleeping with. But the investigation itself reveals troubling civil liberty issues. -egg]

http://m.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/fbi-investigation-of-broadwell-reveals-bureaus-comprehensive-access-to-electronic-communications/2012/11/17/5f27d636-3012-11e2-9f50-0308e1e75445_story.html

Kevin Kelly on the end of anonymity

Kevin Kelly on the end of anonymity: Over on his Google+ account, Kevin Kelly says:

The major impact of the Petraeus affair has nothing to do with the military, sex, or celebrity — it is that there is no such thing as anonymous, and that the US government is able to access internet and credit card records without warrants, just because they ask to. Your digital life is not private from the government, ever; therefore, your life is not private. Read the details in this important reporting by +Andrew Leonard:

“[This] debacle confirms something that some privacy experts have been warning about for years: Government surveillance of ordinary citizens is now cheaper and easier than ever before. Without needing to go before a judge, the government can gather vast amounts of information about us with minimal expenditure of manpower. We used to be able to count on a certain amount of privacy protection simply because invading our privacy was hard work. That is no longer the case. Our always-on, Internet-connected, cellphone-enabled lives are an open door to Big Brother.”

I have nothing to hide; I am just saying anonymous is not anonymous.

Anonymous is Not