Tom Cruise in Minority Report
What is “probable cause” ?
In the year 2013 and in the many years that will follow the question of “What the Founding Fathers intended” becomes less meaningful and in some instances useless. It’s increasingly more difficult to “make believe” that back in 1786/7, the vision held by those at the beginning of the formation of United States of American had any clue about a telephone, television or a computer much less an e-mail” or “DNA”.
Recently, the Supreme Court ruled that it is legal for police to collect DNA samples of anyone arrested for what is believed to be a serious crime. Note, being arrested is not the same as being convicted. The Justices aligned DNA to having your finger prints taken which should be shocking to most of us. But aside from some journalist and maybe by a congressmen/congresswomen here or there the scope of what had just happened escaped the public at large. When you have your fingerprints taken what law enforcement has is your fingerprints. When they have your DNA they now have a digital record about all of you, your predecessor and your descendants.
After 9-11-2001, the National Security Agency was allowed, with some restrictions, to collect and mine digital data in search of possible terrorist threats. The placing of the restriction by legislators highlights their unfamiliarity with the technology and that for the NSA to do an impossible job it would need access to all of the data. It would need to know everything.
It is impossible to know everything.