While most of the country was busy with last-minute shopping trips, President Bush was retaliating against the latest attack on his presidency-reports of a secret program to spy on Americans.
After a day of cloudy “no comments,” Bush owned up to the program, which was conducted by the National Security Administration and exposed by The New York Times. Legislators and others immediately jumped on the issue, demanding an inquiry into a program that eschewed warrants for wiretaps.
The issue becomes especially interesting in the wireless realm. Although The Times didn’t specifically name the carriers involved, the paper said “telecommunications companies” were working directly with the NSA to monitor telephone and Internet traffic.
Now, think about the information that might be available to NSA staff. If the caller was on a cell phone, not only could the NSA staffers listen in on the call, they might also be able to find out where the caller was.
Now, Bush has assured us that only international calls were monitored. Which means that if I called my cousin in The Netherlands and we talked about the war in Iraq, that call just might have tripped the sensors over at the NSA-and my location just might be available to them, warrant or no. (Luckily, I don’t like my cousin enough to call him.)
Big Brother indeed. But I’m sure the NSA is a very secure, considerate organization, and my location information would be safe with them. However, what other entities have access to my conversations and-through my cell phone-my location? My wireless carrier obviously does, but thankfully my carrier has proven to me time and again that it is neither organized nor efficient.
“I’m sorry Mr. Dano, I’m not sure how to remove that charge from your account.”
I suppose all it would take is one disgruntled carrier employee with the right access codes, and my location would be for sale to whoever was willing to pay. Maybe that’s why Verizon Wireless has been so diligent with lawsuits to protect its customers’ privacy.
I’m not worried though, call-center employees make plenty of money. But what about that computer hacker who distributed the pictures and phone numbers from Paris Hilton’s Sidekick? I wonder if he could have figured out where she was through cell-site triangulation.
And what about MVNOs? They’re popping up all over, and some have promised to offer location services. I’m sure that ESPN has a foolproof security program, but what about some of the smaller MVNO players? Can they afford the latest in database security?
Ah, I’m not worried. I spend most of my time talking about comic books and visiting the mall, so my personal information isn’t really that important anyway. But what about Paris Hilton’s location? Is that worth something? How about the president’s?
