Senator Seeks More Info On DOJ Location Tracking Practices 35
Gunkerty Jeb writes "Senator Al Franken (D-MN) is demanding answers to questions about the U.S. Department of Justice practice of gathering data from wireless providers in order to monitor individuals' movements using mobile phone location data. In a letter (PDF) to Attorney General Eric Holder, Franken said, 'I was further concerned to learn that in many cases, these agencies appear to be obtaining precise records of individuals' past and current movements from carriers without first obtaining a warrant for this information. I think that these actions may violate the spirit if not the letter of the Jones decision.'"
Re:Too damn many people (Score:5, Informative)
Midterm congressional elections, nationwide, get around 80-85 million votes. There are 435 representatives. That's around 190k votes per representative. The results turn on a few percentage points. The 2010 midterms, by all accounts a blow-out, had only a 6.5% difference between the major parties. That's around six thousand voters per district, making the difference between a huge Democratic majority and a huge Republican one. And that's before you get into primaries, where turnout is even lower.
Representatives do pay attention to letters and phone calls. They hold town meetings where you can ask them questions. You can make a difference. Not a big one, by yourself, but if people in this country would stop being so defeatist, they could make a big difference in aggregate.