I know this will come as a grand shock considering the whole domestic spying incident of late (sarcasm implied), but the Executive branch doesn’t have to obey laws. They are clearly optional.
While the domestic spying angers me greatly, this one is even more overt and really makes me want to scream.
From Bruce Schneier’s blog and full story here:
Perspective: E-tracking through your cell phone
The gist is that your cellphone’s location is fair game to law enforcement at all times without any probable cause even though when lobbying for the passage of the bill in 1994, FBI Director Louis Freeh ensured the Senate that the bill would not be used for these purposes.
I must admit that of late I have become so disillusioned with our political system. The best we can hope for is gridlock in the Legislative branch. Regardless of which team in our Two-Party system has the majority, all they do is serve special interests, buy votes, get richer themselves, and pretty well screw things up. I hope everyone realizes that not one person that is in public office and has been re-elected at least once has not made deals which compromise their integrity. The only honest ones didn’t get re-elected when they refused to play ball. (Didn’t you ever wonder why people raise and spend Millions and Millions of dollars to get someone else a $400,000/year job?)
Mid-year elections are coming up for Congress. Vote wisely. Gridlock is Good. And make your voice heard to your elected officials by writing to them. They don’t really care what you think, but at least you can say you expressed your opinion. (Congress.org is good site that lets you easily write to them online)