Crowds outside Studio 54, 1970s.
The programs of the past can be characterized as “proximate surveillance,” in which the government attempted to use technology to directly monitor communication themselves. The programs of this decade mark the transition to “oblique surveillance,” in which the government more often just goes to the places where information has been accumulating on its own, such as email providers, search engines, social networks, and telecoms.
Worth a read. The defender of the NSA policy seem to think this is a simple matter of privacy. It isn’t.
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Drawn by Mike Jacobsen [website | twitter | store]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/3b5438e264f920252bf25266588626d9/tumblr_mmgibhJ0WJ1sqs2b3o1_500.jpg)
‘Airport 1975’ - 1974 film poster
Well, not to people, but to creepy little critters with zeroes and ones running through their veins. Alexis Madrigal’s article on how he is tracked by 104 insubstantial monsters has become de rigueur reading for those following the story.
I’m still in a bit of a quandary over whether or not I…
