Friday, August 12, 2005

Garbage Privacy and Turning the Tables

Oh, this one is just hilarious. [hattip SayUncle]

The question of whether your trash is private might seem academic. It's not. Your garbage can is like a trap door that opens on to your most intimate secrets; what you toss away is, in many ways, just as revealing as what you keep.

And your garbage can is just one of the many places where your privacy is being pilfered. In the wake of 9/11, the U.S. government has granted itself far-reaching new powers to spy on you, from email to bank statements to video cameras (see "Big Brother's in Your Trash Can," below).

After much debate, we resolved to turn the tables on three of our esteemed public officials. We embarked on an unauthorized sightseeing tour of their garbage, to make a point about how invasive a "garbage pull" really is--and to highlight the government's ongoing erosion of people's privacy.

Read the whole thing, it's quite entertaining that the advocates of the legality of the "garbage pull" went nuclear when they had the tables turned on them.

1 comment:

Granted said...

Holy cow! There are real reporters out there? Who knew?

What a great piece. Seriously, that is some trule great work. I love the reactions by all three of the pols. It's kind of amazing how many people have a "good for me but not for thee" outlook.

Thanks for tracking that one down.