Just when you think it can't get worse. It gets worse.
I guess in a crazy kind of way it makes sense. Government has been mooching off commercial data collection for some time. It's about time the commercial sector got to use government agents as sort of a contracted private intelligence agency.
<sarcastically>And hell, you could bump this up a notch. Just start paying for body cams on all federal agents. If the agent needs the data in court you save it, otherwise it can magically disappear (without any kind of judicial overview). Better yet, lying to a federal agent is a felony! So just text the guy and give him some sample questions he might want to ask. It'd be like a magic button to privately deposition anybody you'd like.</sarcastically>
I apologize for the hair-on-fire reaction. Good grief, it's blatantly obvious that the players here, both commercial and governmental, are going to push this thing as hard as they possibly can until somebody stops them. I'm still trying to figure out who somebody is going to be.
ADD: A plug: I rant about this often on my FB page. God knows I try to keep it off HN but it's a long-lasting news story that's intricately related to the things we do. (FB page is https://www.facebook.com/Freedom-or-Safety-405551942874575)
Well, the historical response to being robbed by armed thugs is to get bigger weapons and your own thugs. And in Texas, it's easier to get guns that it is to get water (as far as I can tell, observing from Canada). The only thing I don't understand is why an open shooting war between the police and the citizens hasn't broken out already.
AFAICT, the citizenry that votes loves law enforcement and "tough" regulations; the people most comfortable with guns are also in love with this government. Further, voter turnout in the last major election was ~28% (or 34%, depending on whom you ask) so the ability to work the democracy angle is quite limited.
The government keeps the populace happy by making noises related to "lowered taxes", which is accompanied by the reality shown by this extortion gambit, skyrocketing fines in general, and generally regressive taxation policies. It is a sad state of affairs, no pun intended.
I guess in a crazy kind of way it makes sense. Government has been mooching off commercial data collection for some time. It's about time the commercial sector got to use government agents as sort of a contracted private intelligence agency.
<sarcastically>And hell, you could bump this up a notch. Just start paying for body cams on all federal agents. If the agent needs the data in court you save it, otherwise it can magically disappear (without any kind of judicial overview). Better yet, lying to a federal agent is a felony! So just text the guy and give him some sample questions he might want to ask. It'd be like a magic button to privately deposition anybody you'd like.</sarcastically>
I apologize for the hair-on-fire reaction. Good grief, it's blatantly obvious that the players here, both commercial and governmental, are going to push this thing as hard as they possibly can until somebody stops them. I'm still trying to figure out who somebody is going to be.
ADD: A plug: I rant about this often on my FB page. God knows I try to keep it off HN but it's a long-lasting news story that's intricately related to the things we do. (FB page is https://www.facebook.com/Freedom-or-Safety-405551942874575)