EP 157 CAN AMERICA’S LAWS KEEP UP WITH TECHNOLOGY?
By its very construct, our government, with its checks and balances and election cycles, is more reactive than proactive. And it is this deliberative nature that keeps a check on abuse of power or so we imagine. Yet, the languid nature of our governmental system is often very slow to respond to fast changing developments in the real world. How many study commissions have been formed to take a complicated issue and wrestle with it as a way for lawmakers to look like they’re doing something, all the while they are stalling for time? With the pace of technological change, there is virtually no way for government to keep pace with appropriate checks, often on itself, to insure our privacy in a world of dazzling surveillance technology. Perhaps the implied right of privacy in the Constitution will hold back the floodgates, but some law enforcement agencies will go to the edge to transform new technologies into surveillance traps. Be aware and beware. Get the history and the story up to date on this podcast with Cyrus Farivar, author of ‘Habeas Data’.
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