Be Careful What You Google

If you read this blog with any frequency you know I’m concerned about our government’s propensity to snoop on its own citizens. It’s not that I’ve done anything wrong, it’s just massive data sniffing leads to massive numbers of computer assisted conclusions–often wrong.

Just searching “pressure cooker” and “backpack” can arouse suspicion. This morning medium.com reported on a Long Island family visited by police because of Googling those two terms!

They mentioned that they do this about 100 times a week. And that 99 of those visits turn out to be nothing. I don’t know what happens on the other 1% of visits and I’m not sure I want to know what my neighbors are up to.

General Keith Alexander who heads the National Security Agency appeared at the Black Hat Convention in Las Vegas, Wednesday. The NSA employs our most prying spies. Alexander’s appearance was telling.

General Alexander said NSA operatives worked under strict controls, including oversight by Congress, the executive and judges on the Fisa court, which he said was a tough watchdog: “I can tell you from the wire-brushings that I’ve received that it is not a rubberstamp.”

In essence, as much as the NSA gets, they’d really like more.