Or, How Technology Helps Your Friendly Neighborhood Policeman Violate Your Privacy in New and Innovative Ways
Geoffrey S. Nathan, Faculty Liaison for Computing and Information Technology, Wayne State University
We already know that our government (and other people's governments) like to collect vast amounts of data on its citizens, on the off-chance that the data might prove useful in preventing a terrorist attack. And, given the extent of mission creep, that data is also being used in other kinds of criminal investigations, such as drug investigations and child pornography prosecutions (although perhaps not always in a legitimate manner). [1] That data is collected at a national level, however, and has not (to the best of public knowledge) been shared with local law enforcement.