Cross Sell & Politics

I read a good blog today on my sister's blog "Blanket in the Grove" (In the advertising business we call this a "cross sell"). Not only do I find her thoughts interesting, but the topic overall is a bit scary to consider also. Topic Nutshell: The Gov recently subpoena'd a bunch of internet websites (search engines) to release the search strings for their customers in an attempt to find perverts and terrorists. Google so far is the only one I'm aware of who is fighting back and saying "whoa, wait a minute". I find it an interesting twist on individual privacy and relating to the fourth amendment in regards to corporations... In that, the government is not allowed to come into my home grab my computer and look through it to see what items I've searched for... But who's rights are being challenged if they go into a corporation and ask to see their records of my search. I have to hope someone like google will resist or challenge the request. By using certain corporate or business services I'm in effect giving up some of my rights.

ok, I'm on a roll now...
I was going to try to refrain from posting another link I found via boingboing but this one I have to mention... "Future American Layers protest Attorney General's speech"
Here's the original info from a blog of all places...
http://insomnia.livejournal.com/652389.html
Some of the comments are interesting too... I was surprised to read the one about NPR in that they sort of mis-represented the protest during their coverage of the event. That's troubling.

Finally...
I was watching a little cspan this morning before work, and they were doing some call ins about the domestic spying issues. Several people brought up this line: "If you are doing nothing wrong, what's the big deal if the Gov spys on you?" - Ugh. On the surface this argument makes logical sense, but you have to think through it one or two more steps to realize this is bad. My biggest fear is that the majority of people will not think through those additional few steps and start trusting the Gov without question.
In regard to the above... the Quote from Ben Franklin is seeming to pop up more and more on an almost daily basis:

Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. - Ben Franklin

What a mess.
(forgive any typos... I'm just letting this one fly)