Our government has had the ability to "snoop" for decades. Most of our Telephone and cellphone conversations, email, IM's all go via satellites. This stuff has been easy pickings for a long time. It was being done in the CARTER administration, if not before. By the way, this technology is available to any nation that has satellite technology - England, France, Italy, Russia, China and others. Even little Israel can (and does!) launch its own satellites. As they said in the movies -- "Thats a fact, Jack" We have no option but to live with it.
However I am more, far more, concerned about corporate databases. Speaking as a fiscally conservative republican, the total lack of ethics that I've seen in corporate American is the source of this concern.
Too much information is in the hand of companies that can actually use this information to hurt us. Every action that we take. Every transaction that we are involved with winds up in a corporate databse somewhere. Some companies appear to use this technology well. Inventory management has become the mainstay in business with an incredibally small profit margin. Target and Walmart come to mind. In their hands RFID chips can be a major asset. RFID chips are those tiny computer-chips that can be implanted in amazing places, Like my pet dog's shoulder. However, do I want one in MY shoulder? When my grandchildren apply for college or a job. how much information will be on file about them.
I am more concernet with Citicorp having too much information about me than my own government, or the Chinese government, for that matter.
As an afterthought:
Right after I posted this rant, I surfed onto the Drudge Report. A banner headline reads:
SPY AGENCY WATCHING AMERICANS FROM SPACE.PERHAPS SOME PERSPPECTIVE IS NEEDED HERE - Go onto Google Maps and find your home! Here's a link to my Condo:
I can see my little white pickup truck parked across the street from the apartment house. It's canned technology, right off the shelf! Lets get some perspective here!