Did I Just Use the term "Big Brother?"

Yes, I know it's well beyond cliche at this point, but I've put the term "Big Brother" into circulation in my latest piece at Spot-On: Big Brother's Riding Shotgun.

I hope the piece is thought provoking. I'm more than a little disturbed at how quickly state and federal agencies seem to have embraced GPS tracking technology, and how little protection you and I seem to have.

To be clear, I don't have a problem with convicted criminals being fitted with GPS anklets as a condition for parole or other release programs, but warrantless use of GPS to track suspects? Mandatory use of GPS to assess road taxes?

What's also disturbing is how public agencies seem more than aware of the chilling implications for privacy and liberty (they acknowledge the issue in every circumstance), but how little they worry about the effects of adopting tracking technology for their ends. If it means a new way of collecting tax revenue, their logic seems to go, sign us up... consequences be damned.

I just don't like the direction this trend is headed. I'm also more than a little concerned at the lack of public outcry. To steal my own closing statement, have the Son's of Liberty lost their voice?