1984. Have you read it? About 50, 60 years ago a Brit named George Orwell wrote an incredibly visionary book about a society where governments control every detail of life, monitor people through gigantic screens in their homes, and keep tabs with “thought-police.” Beyond that, they wage perpetual war with each other to keep the economies going, rewrite history at will, and, well, you get the idea.

This past week the government argued that they should be allowed to access cell-phone records to help track suspected criminals.

Lower courts have denied the government this right in the past, but in a renewed plea the Justice Department is asking for the right to track specific numbers.

Of course, the danger here is that they could just claim that anyone is suspected of criminal activity, right? Conspiracy theorist? Realist? What does it make me if I’m suspicious that the folks in charge will just label anyone a terrorist and then have access to everything in their lives and then try them in a military court? I don’t think it’s that strange to think it will start happening. Witch trials, McCarthyism, Orwell may have been on to something long before we knew what it was.

Civil rights lawyers are arguing that providing all of that information is an invasion of privacy and a violation of “constitutional protections against unjustified arrest”. Yeah, so there! It’s a solid argument, as the legal system stands now. You have certain rights as a U.S. citizen, and one of them is privacy. For the most part. I don’t know if the government or police forces can get a warrant to see your phone records- I’m sure they can. Why is the JUSTICE Department asking for the right to see anyone’s cell phone records that they simply suspect of criminal activity? Just get a warrant, right?

That’s what the attorneys for the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for Democracy and Technology say.

"Cell tower information is useful to law enforcement because of limited information it provides about the location of a cell phone when a call is made," a 2008 government brief said as part of their request to access phone data without probable cause. Doesn’t that just sound bad, even to non-conspiracy theorists? The government can see where you are on your cell phone anytime? Just because somebody wants to?

"We think the data in this case is accurate enough to implicate the Fourth Amendment," said Kevin Bankston, attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, meaning it could violate constitutional rights protecting a person from unreasonable seizure. Sure, work the legal language. Just keep them out of my cell phone.

"There are governments in the world that would like to know where some of their people are or have been. Wouldn't the government find it useful if it could get that information without showing probable cause? Don't we have to be concerned about that?" asked Judge Dolores Sloviter.

This is an easy one. No way should the government get access to any phone information without probable cause. Just get the warrant like the legal requirement asks for.  It's 25 years after 1984 and it's sounding like Orwell wasn't really wrong, just that he predicted it a bit soon...

Photo Credit: zoomar (via Flickr under CCL)