If you thought that anything - and I mean ANYTHING - that you did on the phone or online was secure, think again.   One of the trademarks of the "nanney state" is that as it arrogates all manner of things to its own jurisdiction, it also becomes increasingly totalitarian. 

These days governmental omnipresence has been made more manageable by technology.  While federal snooping is pretty high tech, they got nothing on the private sector, more specifically Google.  And while there is still some semblance of constitutional protections against such (though much of that obliterated by Republican promulgated tripe like the "Patriot Act"), there are no constitutional restraints on the private sector.  None.  Nada.  Zilch. 

Comprende?

The genius behind Google is unbelievable.  Despite their motto to "do no evil" they do; censoring prolife speech as well as that critical of the Obama Adminstration.  More pernicious, however, is the snooping and reporting that they do - as a private actor - on behalf of the federal government, especially the National Security Agency.  So you get a Google phone, you give Google all of your data and also that of all your contacts.  This has monumental ramifications for marketing as well as governmental disclosures.  And, in case you didn't know, those built in GPS programs work both ways: you are not the only one to whom it discloses where you are.

And just in case you've been sleeping a little to well at night, consider the following light reading:

Hey, baby, I'm your garbage man.

The new Ceasar Augustus census. They'll never tell. Honest.

Invasion of the Body Scanners.

Big Sis knows what you've been thinking.

You've got (opened) mail.

IRS has ways of making you talk.

This man has no brain.

At least the trains run on time.

You might be a terrorist if . . . .

Hey, honey, the FBI is on the phone.

But in the final analysis, Washington is neither our savior nor our final judge:

May He grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your counsel! 
We will sing for joy over your victory, 
And in the name of our God we will set up our banners.
May the LORD fulfill all your petitions.
Now I know that the LORD saves His anointed;
He will answer him from His holy heaven
With the saving strength of His right hand.
Some boast in chariots and some in horses,
But we will boast in the name of the LORD, our God. 
They have bowed down and fallen,
But we have risen and stood upright.  Save, O LORD; 
May the King answer us in the day we call.

Psalm 20:4-9

So I guess you can have a great weekend after all.

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