You got that right. It's inevitable.

The ACLU is full of paranoid perverts. Next thing they'll be outlawing video cameras, tape recorders, cell phones and crayons. They seem to have a lot to hide.

With video cellphones there is NO privacy anywhere.

P.S. Just pick up the pizza in person. Of course wear gloves, don't leave any dna and keep your eyes closed in case of retinal scanners

I wonder if there is a keylogger on my PC?

Spyware?.

Is Sony gonna report me?

Is "Carnivore" logging this?

LOL! ! !!!

Give it about another five years, and we won't be laughing.

what BillyBoy says ....

I for one don't mind a little privacy invasion, because I don't have anything to hide. And if it will stop someone from doing something bad to me, it's even a better. Y'all are correct, it seems to be the ones who DO have something to hide that say whine and then say "I have a right".

And besides, I'm a white male Christian, so I am the in the one that has the fewest rights these days.

Ya ever notice how laws can change at a moment's notice, and suddenly folks who never had anything to hide now DO have something to hide?
"But that wasn't illegal last month...!!""

daryl , your response is so sterotypicaly conservative republican that i'm assuming you are joking.

Very few people have much to hide it's just that we don't want big coroprations that couldn't care less about us to use that "extra" info in any way just to make some money.

I sure hope the states don't turn into what's happening in the UK with remote cameras on almost every pole or building. It has nothing to do with 'what do you have to hide' and EVERYTHING to do with a out of control government turning rapidly into a police state chipping away at our Constitutional rights where citizens are spyed on and monitored constantly.

Soon after that we may get the thought police where "improper thoughts" with be a crime followed by the food police, the sex police, etc... Hell, we're starting to see early signs of that kind of thing already.

For those that think it ain't bad, rent a copy of In Fahrenheit 451 where fireman don't put out fires, they start them burning books you can no longer have. Also rent 1984.

Hi Patreb. Yes, I'm partially joking, but honestly, our forefathers didn't expect that so many people would abuse the rights that we've been provided. And those, such as the ACLU, make it worse.

For example, first-hand experience: I work in a government position, and a group of us decied we'd like to have a Christian fellowship lunchtime once a week. Well, guess what, by our second lunch, OUR time, NOT taking up any space reserved for government business, someone went to the department attorney and filed complaint. We are just a group of folks with a common thread, no one forced to be there, no one excluded, anyone is welcome. The only difference from usual lunchtime talk is that we will, along with the usualy lunchtime talk, we will discuss scripture and how it mighy apply to us, giving our personal view based on our differing faiths.

Oh, the person who complained remains anonymous, and the attorney checked out all the laws and rules, and we were not doning ANYTHING wrong, but we were asked to go elsewhere just so the anonymous person would not be upset. I'd really like for this person to just go with us sometime and realize that he/she is in NO danger or having his/her rights trampled.

If we were a gay group, I don't think anyone would mind.

EDIT As I was typing, you typed your post about partially joking. I respect that. By the way, I believe the ACLU has defended and won cases like the one you describe.

Remember when conservatives used denounce a "culture of victimhood" instead of embrace it?

Does having nothing to hide include your medical history or your family's?

Does having nothing to hide prevent your wife or daughter from being leered at through public security cams or when the go through full body scanners that see through clothes?

We live in goffy times. On one hand our currency says "in God we trust" and both the Congress and Supreme Court open every session with a prayer and 'one nation, under God 'is in the pledge of allegiance yet you can't have any kind religion in schools and more and more people are getting upset over saying Merry Christmas out of fear of hurting someone's feeling and instead mumble happy holidays.

George Orwell's "1984" was written in 1949 expressing the fear that by 1984 such an omni present police state would trample every one's civil liberties.

That paranoia has influenced the ACLU and others for at least 60 years. Every new technological advance was coupled with the fear of Big Brother.

There ARE cameras everywhere, in the hands of private citizens. Look at the police arrests that are captured on video. It is the police who are in trouble, not the criminal.

Don't forget that Santa Claus knows if you have been good or bad, so why fight it?

Right on Billyboy!

And busterkeaton, I'd RATHER not have to go through a scanner or detector, but, if it keeps my plane from being blown up, I'll do it twice!

It's too bad that it comes down to the choice, do we keep ALL of our privacy and rights, or do we make the job of predators and terrorists easier. We can't have it both ways, so, scan away, search my bags, protect me.

I'm not saying get an account and record of everything in my life, but if I have to give up some privacy to be alive and well, it's not the government's fault, it's the criminal's.

I'm all for land rights for gay whales (christian or otherwise) and I've many times echoed the 'if you ain't got nothing to hide' argument. However we are creating systems that give those bent on doing us harm the ultimate weapon.
They no longer need to break our door down and hit us over the head, with a few mouse clicks they could simply turn us into a non person, make us members of any fanatical group of their choosing, create a bad credit record etc.
This isn't something that might happen at some time in the future either, it's already happening and there's no sign that the risks are diminishing.
Bob.

I'd put up with any amount of added hassle too, if I thought it'd get me where I'm going safely. Yet having carried cameras and batteries through airport security in quite a few countries now I've only twice struck a security guy who knew his job. Once a long time pre 9/11 was in HK airport and the other time post 9/11 was in a small airport in central China.
Neither in the US, the UK, or any other airport in Asia did anyone ask to see so much as if my gear worked despite this being a known method of getting nasty devices onto aircraft. In the end it comes down to having well trained, alert humans guarding us, yet hands up those who'd consider a career in airport security?
Bob.

So anyone who has nothing to hide wouldn't mind me putting cameras in their apartment or house? Maybe we should instead talk about what creates the need for such surveiillance?

Don't get me started on RFID chips, mobile phones, SMS's, email, credit cards, digital TV, Xerox machines, printers and all that other stuff. :)

The EU is very close to a decision that forces the ISP's and phone companies to store traffic data for several years. This way the authorities can go back and pinpoint your location at any given time and also see your network of friends and collegues and what you've been communicating. Do I want that? Sure, it makes me feel sooo secure...

Best/Tommy

Separation of Church and State per our (U.S.) first amendment, often interpreted as Freedom of Religion, also means Freedom FROM Religion, anyone's religion, mine, yours or anyone's. It states the Government shall endorse NO religion. Why? Because the Church of England was fresh in our brilliant Fore Father's minds. They saw and experienced the detriments of religion in government.

Another aspect of it is, just as you learned in elementary school, if we allow one to do it then we must allow all to do it. If we have the Ten Commandments and other Christian elements in government buildings then how dare we not have doctrines from every other religion in government buildings. We are a diverse country.

In God We Trust was added to our currency post Civil War, right at 100 years after our Fore Fathers constructed the Constitution/Bill of Rights.

Under God was added to the pledge of allegiance in the 1950s, almost 200 years after our Declaration Of Independence.

Our Fore Fathers had NOTHING to do with any of "God" stuff contrary to what many "Christian" advocates like to pronounce. They knew what was best, they were truly visionists. It still works amazingly well today.

We can have NO religion in our government, as I said, even if it's mine. We have many religions in America, who the heck does anyone that thinks their God shall be THE God think they are? The last election's exit polls suggested the deciding factor was "values", huh? As if the current administration has displayed they have any morals at all... even if they did, our Fore Fathers certainly weren't about legislating morality.

This religious thing has gotten under my skin in the last 10 years, I've got Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Evangelicals, Baptists and some I've forgotten knocking at my door, my home! They call on my phone, they stand outside my grocery store attempting to enlist me in "their" way.

My brother married a Unitarian, he converted. I was baptized, received my first Communion, Confirmed, was an Alter-boy for smurfs sake, his 14 year old daughter informed me recently I wasn't a Christian! I did point her to links in Encarta defining "Christian". It had no effect. While the Catholic religion is guilty of countless atrocities through history, that aside, it was actually the first Christian religion.

I've had it with this. We even vote for religion lately. This is not the way our Fore Father's intended it.

Our Fore Fathers intended for government to be devoid of religion.

Why do people feel they must impose their religion on others? I don't care if someone says Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas to me. What's the big deal? I have no intention of forcing, even encouraging anyone to believe my way, I want the same in return.

Oh, by the way... God and Religion are two VERY different things.

Another thing, the ACLU defended the neo conservative's boy Limbaugh when he was guilty of illegal drug addiction as he spewed his slime.

It's this knee jerk reaction thought process, blindly followed, eroding our freedoms, not at all intended by this country's builders, that leads us down the path to destruction.

All that righteousness of our Fore Fathers I mentioned above aside, as great as this nation is, it's not/hasn't been perfect. We were slave holders, we committed insurmountable atrocities to the Native Americans, "The Domino Effect", Iraq, etc. etc etc. Those that blindly follow "Government" are doomed. Just ask the Romans or those that followed the Nazis.

"We The People" must be very skeptical of those "humans" that have "our best interest" at heart.

MJ

That was a good one MJ!
Best/Tommy

> http://www.adcritic.com/interactive/view.php?id=5927

FWIW, I work to make things like this possible. I apologize to no one. The same software that is spying on you is saving lives. Will it be abused? Certainly. Do we still need it? Yup. Its not the tools, its what you do with them.

Example: How would you like your cell phone to wake up and show you the video of someone entering your property. You're at work and you can talk to the delivery man at your front door. Or call the police. Or the firemen are racing to your house and need an accurate floor map, along with locations for everyone inside the building. Or your teenager is driving along the highway at 100 miles/hour and you'd like the car gps to inform you. Or someone just robbed you at gunpoint and hijacked your car with your 1yr old in the back seat (just to mention something from the local news) and you'd like the police to access that same gps.

Its a brave new world out there. As usual we're going to do some things right and some things wrong. But personally I think the risk of the jackboot kicking in the door is outweighed by the increase in security. Could be wrong, of course, which is why there is a place for the aclu idiots too, god bless 'em :-)

In this instance, Rich, I agree with you. Arming officers with building layouts, providing lojack services for vehicles, etc are important uses of the software. When the software starts restricting personal freedoms of consenting, able, and willful adults, then it's a problem. I don't mind if the car tells me the teen who is legally not an adult, is speeding. I do mind if the same car being driven by me, calls the cops on me if I'm speeding, not wearing a safety belt, or any other infraction.
It's gonna get abused, and since government is allowing the software to function as it does, then it's equally up to government to hand out harsh penalties for abuse of these software tools. I can't recall the movie, but there is a lo-budget, crappy movie out there that calls for life imprisonment of people who mis-used software and marcom information to get into people's lives. I don't know about life, but I'd surely like to see the stage set for extreme punishments for theft or illegal use of personal information.
You call them the ACLU idiots, but that's about as silly as Republicans denigrating Democrats, or Democrats denigrating Republicans. Fortunately, the ACLU for what ever bad they're responsible for, are part of the checks and balances systems that our country needs now more than ever before.
I disagree that the jackboot is outweighed by the need for security. I see abuses of power on a near-daily basis by government officials.
just for giggles, next time you go through airport security, be sure to ask that snaggle-toothed minimum wage person who is blindly searching your bag and body, who the Director of Homeland Security is. You can bet your paycheck they won't be able to tell you. But they have a badge, and they can maim you for life, even if their lifetime of paychecks won't even add up to what you make in a year. Government is turning to the lowest common denominator, which is why computers and software are so appealing. And at some levels, this is great. At other levels, it's a stupid, ill-conceived nightmare that smacks of the SS.
(I have this argument a lot, my elder brother is the second highest ranking attorney in the state of Utah, and the only one that's a licensed weapon-carrying lawyer, police officer of rank and former DEA)

Just watched - again - Will Smith and Gene Hackman, "Enemy of the State" . . . G