[technoslut]

>but I think overlooks the fact that much of this record keeping happened prior to the internet. Almost all public activity generates a paper trail, and before the internet, your phone company, bank, grocery store, even your VHS rentals and public library, were keeping records on you.

I think you would've had a very hard time tracking someone through these records.

As an NYer, tapping John Gotti was very traditional compared to the blanket tracking of US citizens that has been granted by FISA.

As for Schneier's link to the Atlantic's article, I think we're moving to a new era where we trust developers and not the popularity or the design of the app itself. I'm sure one will be tracked when you don't have to pay anything for it.

[cromwellian]

Real time tracking, yes. But during investigation, no. The intelligence agencies and police states weren't blind before the invention of the internet, or even digitization of records.

In some cases, organizations simply had to actively file reports with government agencies via snail mail when certain suspicious activity was encountered, sort of an active, HUMINT client-side filter.

Best examples are one-way ticket purchases, or cash transfers at banks over $5000, or Western Union telegrams, these were activity monitored via human labor and dead tree paperwork.