: "We are going to begin wiretapping every smart phone in the world
: starting in 3 months, and if you are not okay with us doing that, we have
: a device for that. It's called a 2001 flip phone."

: Microsoft is not the government (yet?)
: XBO is created and sold by Microsoft. Smartphones aren't created nor sold by
: the government.
: VERY different situation and context.

I disagree.

I don't believe that Chris mentioned a government at all with their post, they just put up an outlandish situation similar to the one we are facing.

Were ANYBODY to do as was suggested, openly admitting to wire-tapping our phones, almost EVERYBODY would be up in arms about it.

Simply stating that the people doing it are ass-holes and we should use out-dated technology to avoid dealing with them, is a short sighted and ultimately ineffectual solution to the problem. A problem that apparently will become more and more prevalent as America (and truthfully the world at large) moves towards an ubiquitous and universal Web 2.0. Something that is always available, always connected, and pervades every aspect of our lives, similar to what exists in some of our favorite sci-fi worlds.