We Predicted This One Years Ago

Accused bank robber wants NSA phone records for his defense

One of the exceptionally odd things about about the revelations about the NSA metadata and phone records revelations is that I, not to mention various other Cypherpunk fellow travelers, predicted all this 15 years ago.

In fact, we predicted it so long ago, that almost no one seems to remember we did.

I have to say, though, that this is the first story I’ve seen on the subject that made me smile. So that’s something.

Unfortunately, this may not be the perfect test case:

Prosecutor Michael Gilfarb told the judge that even if the information is available, it may be irrelevant depending on whether Brown carried a phone.

Brown’s wife, Vesta Murat Brown, who testified for the prosecution Wednesday morning, told jurors that her husband didn’t have a cellphone at the time but sometimes borrowed phones from her, other family members or friends.

But even if it isn’t, it won’t be long:

Local lawyers said they anticipate there will be many more requests for this kind of information now that defense attorneys know the information may have been preserved.