[PLUG-TALK] Cell Phone spyware

[Russell Senior]

>>>>> "Keith" == Keith Lofstrom <keithl at gate.kl-ic.com> writes:

Keith> I worry about my friends with iPhones and Androids and such,
Keith> especially if the government owns the infrastructure they
Keith> communicate through.  It is bad enough that the Patriot act
Keith> permits the government to secretly force private companies to
Keith> spy on their customers ...  and that some companies bend over
Keith> backwards to please the governments that regulate them.  When
Keith> so many municipal programs are funded by the feds, and the feds
Keith> are eager to spy on citizens regardless of the party or
Keith> politicians in power, it is hard to imagine that most
Keith> municipalities will defend their citizens from such spying.  Or
Keith> even invest the resources to learn when it is going on.

I don't see any distinction here between the pressure a public or
private operator could be subjected to by asinine surveillance
organizations.  CALEA has been around for almost 20 years.  The
authorities already have broad powers to snoop, way beyond what any
reasonable person would think is Constitutional.  The further up the
governmental food chain you go, the worse it gets.  I think there is
reason to be hopeful that a local government would be more aggressive
in its defense of its users than any company would be.  Just look how
much crap gets flipped at the City when someone pees in a reservoir
and they decide to drain it into the river.

One of the features of the network I advocate is that its facilities
be open to public inspection.  The network should belong to the
users.  If the feds show up with a warrant, it should be served on the
person they are surveilling, not some random third party with no
direct interest in resisting it.


-- 
Russell Senior, President
russell at personaltelco.net