Orwellian World: Part Trois

By William R. Toler

Even working in the news industry, I still seem to miss big stories.

If it wasn’t for Infowars.com, I never would have seen a story out of my home state about spying streetlights.

I was planning to write another post about how we’re heading toward the world of George Orwell’s 1984, citing the Emergency Alert System test held earlier this month, but other developments of intrusion were brought to my attention which I feel compelled to share.

FOX Charlotte reported earlier this month that new, high-tech streetlights known as Intellistreets could soon be spying on us as we stroll through some of our bigger cities, including Detroit and the Queen City. ABC-7 reports that the lights are able to “provide entertainment, save energy, make announcements, and even counts people for police.” Even more frightening is that they can take pictures and record conversations.

Now, while I support the notion that there is no real expectation of privacy in public places (for First Amendment reasons), we shouldn’t have the government spying on us in a free society.

Surveillance Society

By William R. Toler

As technology increases, both in the government and private sector, it seems that our right to privacy continues to decrease.

Recently, Popular Mechanics reported that the Michigan State Police may have been using forensic analyzers on smart phones during routine traffic stops. The magazine mentions a letter sent from the American Civil Liberties Union to the state police alledging that troopers have been violating the Fourth Amendment by using the Cellebrite Universal Forensic Extraction Device.

The manufacturing company’s website boasts that the UFED system “extracts vital information from 95 [percent] of all cellular phones on the market today, including smartphones and PDS devices.” A list of information that can be extract is listed on the product’s page including: contacts, text messages (even deleted ones), call history, audio, video, pictures and ringtones.