Big brotherism coming still faster

The federal government, with active support of both Democrats and Republicans, is making it law that various executive-branch departments be technologically enabled to know what and where we are doing practically in real time.

Introduced in the Federal Energy Act of 2005, the Smart Meter measures your energy consumption minute-by-minute, and eventually will be connected to a device known as the Home Area Network, or "The HAN" as developers in the Silicon Valley refer to it. The HAN will communicate with every electrical device in your home, including your Energy Star-approved appliances. In time, the whole shebang will be hooked up to the coming Smart Grid, and your carbon footprint will be known to the second. Eventually, a scenario like this will occur:

It's a hot afternoon in July. Your air conditioner is keeping the house cooled to 79 degrees; you're watching the ballgame on a 50-inch flat screen TV; and you're doing a load of laundry. A blip on a computer screen alerts an unseen bureaucrat that your home is consuming far too much energy, given demands. Automatically, your thermostat will shift to 84 degrees, the TV will be turned off until evening, and the washer/dryer won't work again until after dark.

But that's not all.

Known as the "Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act," SB 1813 is self-described as "[a]n Act to reauthorize Federal-aid highway and highway safety construction programs, and for other purposes" (emphasis mine).

The legislation would declare it mandatory for all new cars in the U.S. to be fitted with black box-like data recorders beginning in 2015. Known as "Mandatory Event Data Recorders," the devices would be capable of monitoring your speed, driving habits, location, and distance traveled. Removal of the device would be a civil offense.

And the government will have the power to download the data for any reason at all, whenever it wants.