The year 1984 came and went without realization of the Big Brother nightmares of the novel, but that doesn’t mean that the warnings of that book aren’t still a concern. The saving grace has always been that the government isn’t very good at the level of integration necessary to closely track the movements of its citizens. Coupled with that has been the rejection of various technologies that were too good at figuring out where we are at any time. That may be changing, though. We have accepted tracking devices in the form of cell phones.

A recent AP story reported by cnn.com describes a system being installed by the state of Missouri that tracks traffic flow by following cell phone signals. They are working with a particular cellular carrier (possibly Cingular) that is providing them access to the information, and they promise that they are not tracking or accessing individual numbers. If they decide to change their minds, I’m sure they will only track the bad guys. Well, maybe speeders as well (for their own protection, of course). Hey, if they tracked everyone then they could detect someone broken down alongside the road as well…

My point is that this is a slippery slope. Yes, I know that they can already track location at least to the cell site even without this setup. They can also tap cell phones from central locations. Right now they at least need a court order to do so, however. Will such protections be put in place on this system?

Larry Mittag