Using Metadata to Find Paul Revere
I don't know if David Simon's (creator of "The Wire" and "Treme") defense of the Verizon phone records request ever made it onto HN's page:<p>Here it is, if you hadn't seen it:
<a href="http://davidsimon.com/we-are-shocked-shocked/" rel="nofollow">http://davidsimon.com/we-are-shocked-shocked/</a><p>Apparently it was so controversial that his site crashed from the traffic, and he had to tell everyone to chill out: <a href="http://davidsimon.com/nsa-and-fisa-commentary-calling-it/" rel="nofollow">http://davidsimon.com/nsa-and-fisa-commentary-calling-it/</a><p>Anyway, why I thought of that in relation to the OP was, that I think some defenders of the NSA and general government surveillance policies are just unaware of how technology can fundamentally change things...As Google leaders have been known to say, "Speed <i>is</i> a feature"...and so it's not the finding of information that makes the establishment of Google time in human civilization, but how <i>fast</i> Google allows us to do it.<p>So that said, Simon is one of the journalists I have the absolute highest regard for...I'll be one of the many who think "The Wire" is the best TV drama ever, both for its artistic take and for its illustration of how institutions -- the police, the schools, the drug trade -- corrupt even the best of individuals. "The Wire" is heavily based off of the year that Simon embedded himself in the Baltimore homicide department...the book (which spawned a network TV show) is the best book about the practice of journalism I've ever read. After a year following the detectives, you'd think Simon would be pretty much in cahoots with the police...but he followed up "Homicide" with "The Corner", in which he spent a year embedded with drug dealers and their customers...apparently most of the friendsships he made in the Baltimore Police department evaporated after he published a book bringing sympathy to Baltimore's downtrodden.<p>Anyway, I don't think Simon has a love for government or authority. But I do think he's a little naive when it comes to advances in technology and their consequences. When "The Wire" started, the police were focused mostly on tapping pay phones. By the time "The Wire" ended, the police were surprised at the advent of camera phones. So when Simon says he thinks the NSA and other law agencies won't abuse their wiretap authority, <i>I believe him</i>...because in much of his experience, the practical obstacles (such as, having to have an officer watch a payphone all day) made it basically impossible for blanket surveillance.<p>But technology is different...I think Simon's -- and others who I respect -- mistake is to think that the game is being played the same as it always is. It may be the case that the NSA is staffed with as people as good and conscientious as anywhere else...but it's naive to think (as was the primary lesson in "The Wire") that the power they have will lead them astray...and to those of us affected by it, it makes no difference if the violations were intentional or accidental.<p>Anyway, back to Paul Revere and the OP...I think it's a great example. But of course, what makes that educational scenario feasible is technology and the ability to record information (metadata or whatever you want to call it) in an organized way.<p>Frankly, I kind of thought anyone who read 1984 would understand how technology changes everything. But yeah, I do think there are some well-meaning people don't grasp the technology, and if they did, they'd have a different opinion about the dangers of unchecked surveillance.<p>* edit: misspelled conscientious as 'contentious'<p>* edit: as an example of how much Simon continues to challenge the police as a citizen, here's an essay he wrote after the success of the Wire, in which he tried, as a citizen, to get the basic details of a cop-involved shooting, something that has always been public record. He eventually succeeded, and the revelations about the officer involved ended up jeopardizing the prosecution: <a href="http://davidsimon.com/in-baltimore-no-one-left-to-press-the-police/" rel="nofollow">http://davidsimon.com/in-baltimore-no-one-left-to-press-the-...</a><p>But as you can see if you read the piece, Simon is not to thrilled with how the Internet has displaced newspaper journalism