America's ruling class has been experiencing more pushback than usual lately. It just might be a harbinger of things to come.
First, in response to
widespread protests last week, the Department of Homeland Securitycanceled
plans to build a nationwide license plate database. Many local
police departments already use license-plate readers that track every car as
it passes traffic signals or pole-mounted cameras. Specially equipped police
cars even track cars parked on the street or even in driveways.
The DHS put
out a bid request for a system that would have gone national, letting the
federal government track millions of people's comings and goings just as it
tracks data about every phone call we make. But the proposal was suddenlywithdrawn last
week, with the unconvincing explanation that it was all a mistake. I'm inclined
to agree with TechDirt's Tim Cushing, who wrote:
"The most plausible explanation is that someone up top at the DHS or ICE
suddenly realized that publicly calling for bids on a nationwide surveillance
system while nationwide surveillance systems are being hotly debated was ... a
horrible idea."
On Friday, after more
public outrage, the Federal
Communications Commission withdrew a plan to "monitor" news coverage at not
only broadcast stations, but also at print publications that the FCC has no
authority to regulate. The "Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs,"
or CIN (pronounced
"sin") involved the FCC sending people to question reporters and editors
about why they chose to run particular stories. Many folks in
and out of the media found it Orwellian.
No comments:
Post a Comment