Here’s the thing…the technology’s there. The ability to listen in on a phone call has been there for years. There’s no ‘click’ of a third receiver being picked up like in the movies, either…it’s just a link on a page that says “listen live” next to pages and pages of active calls(seriously). But that’s not happening for the most part, either. Maybe if you’re part of a terrorist cell that is being monitored by the FBI it is, and the way they find that out is by data mining numbers, time, and geography of calls. “Oh look, this guy seems to be calling phones next to that hot zone on our terror map! Let’s check him out.” And that shit’s all fine and well with me.

I’ve worked in software security and now correctional facility communications. Your cell phone isn’t a magic walkie-talkie that can reach its destination by invisible string. Getting worked up over this now, after the Patriot Act has been in place for ten years, makes no sense at all. This is America. This is how we work.