Welcome to this episode of the award-winning Best of the Left podcast, in which we shall

learn first about why privacy is important and who it is most important to.

Then we will go back and be reminded of the origins of our current FISA laws, which

will make clear why it is so disappointing that enough Democrats just affected and voted

to renew them.

Then we will turn to the problems with some of the secret methods of American policing

before finishing off with the history of the expectation of privacy in this country.

Our clips today come from Counter-Spin, Humila Squiers, The Young Turks, The David Pakman

Show, and Backstarring.

Would it bother you if, when you walked into a department store, a hidden camera scanned

your face and checked it against a database of VIP customers, suspected shoplifters, and

known litigious people?

What if your church used facial recognition technology to see who was attending?

You can almost divide people between those who find the idea creepy and wrong, and those

who say, eh, all in a day.

With the latter reaction, meaning maybe, I have nothing to hide, so what?

Or maybe, it's inevitable anyway, that ship has sailed.

But is this unprecedented corporate access into our lives permitted, just because it's technically

possible?

What expectations of privacy remain when we shop or walk down the street?

How does it relate to government surveillance?

And as with government surveillance, shouldn't we ask who, when it comes down to it, is most

...