Save the Boobies!

Save the Boobies!

Just when you thought blogs where a complete waste of time, here they are saving the god's greatest gift to mankind. Boobies.

Go save the boobies!

For more info hit up my good friend Katie.

How safe is our Democracy? It's fine as long as you wear the Tin Hats!

From the Booman Tribune:

"It looks like the new Rolling Stone due out tomorrow will have a doozy of an article by RFK, Jr. whick will look into whether the 2006 election can be hacked. Based on a few blurbs that were "sneak previewed" by Raw Story it looks like there is an even bigger story in that article - an admission by a Diebold consultant that machine software was altered in 5,000 machines in DeKalb and Fulton counties on the day of the election."

And just the fact that this happened should make you outraged.

Attention Shoppers: You get nothing out of licking the Package.

So please stop.

Are we running some sort of after school lunch program here?

It would be the only thing that would explain why the same two kids come into the bakery everyday asking for a cookie. Where are your parents? Go buy something. Do you really need that cookie everyday?

M&M insists she is Culturally Sensitive: Because we now a "Mexican Section" in the bakery. Which today consists of 5 packages of 'mini' corn muffins.

Why mini-corn muffins? I guess because M&M thinks Mexicans just love Corn Muffins. I can attest to the fact that the Ex (A Mexi-can not Mexi-can't) loved the Jiffy Corn Mix.

Today's Rosie Poem is dedicated to:

Gross Customers

Customer
today
asks for discount
on Donuts
for Mom And Dad
Cause the tray with donuts has a fly in it,

Still she wants three
I give 'em to her for 50 cents

But after you do that
don't try and flirt it up
At the Hot Box
tellin' me you want to see me dance


You're so 40 something.

Ignatious J. Reilly, An old man is pissing, Guest edited by Rosie.

Employee bathroom
has no lock
So nothing can stop
an old homeless man
from walking in on me
and nothing can stop him from pissing
before I can leave

No sir, an apology is not good enough.

State inspector
is a big fat Ignatious J. Reilly.
Who sticks his flashlight into our decorative pipes, looking for rust
Somehow he misses the flies.

The girl who might like me
and who quit working here
to make 7 dollars an hour elsewhere
returned to work here
because the other place had perv mangers
I once told her I had a large penis and often wear see through clothing

It's been two days
since I have needed an Aleve to get through the day

when my back hurts
I want to recruit 500 members for the Red Army
to go all Columbine
in America's malls
right before Christmas
and cost the Economy
2 trillions of dollars

i hope the fbi
does not read this blog

Securing America: Health Inspectors Florida, U.S.A.

"I don't know what you did to the floor yesterday, but the health inspector sure was impressed. He said the floors look good."

It's good to see Mr. Magoo has found work at the Florida Health Department.

Mopping is for clean bakeries anyways.

I refuse to mop any more at work. But I don't think any of you who visit Palmghetto's 'ghettoiest' bakery will notice much of a difference though.

I refuse to notice some things too. Like the way you cough up your 27 year old lungs each morning like you're already half dead from emphysema. Or the way you have meticulously place the paper waste basket directly opposite the commode against the wall, so each time I take a shit I can get a clear view of all the bloodied tissues face up in the basket.

You could at least put a clean tissue over all that stuff, nobody wants to watch your lung slowly decompose. You are only 27 after all. Not quite like the old men who sit out in front of Walmart coughing like they are talking into a tin can, three seconds from having a hole drilled in their necks.

I get paid an embarrassing low amount of money. I have already thrown my back out mopping with a standard kitchen mop. Now that is broke. I can't seem to locate a large "industrial" sized mop and bucket together at the same time.

I think it's some sort of conspiracy, started by the Visitors. Sometimes I think they are talking to me. "C'mon man, don't you wanna make some more of those cinnamon rolls?" Never buy the cinnamon rolls here, it is simply impossible to keep flies out of the breakfast glaze.

This post is dedicated to the indentured servitude now festered on to me by a growing and demanding readership.

I like it better when he wears the Glove.

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Small Meat.

Since you can't stop wondering about what your favorite grocery store baker does... when not picking flies out of your bread...I give you....

From the unwritten screenplay "Baker's Boy-Actual Conversations Are Never Verbatim."

Scene 1 Act 1

Interior of a Grocery Store Breakroom. Populated by 3 teenaged wannabe Gangsta's and a white smocked, pudgy-cute, goatee wearing, Philosophy buff.


Kid A (but not the Radiohead one) "Hey, say what you said on speakerphone."

Kid 1 then turns on the speakerphone function to his cell phone. He then holds his phone at directs it at Kid "b".

Voice on Speakerphone "No." Cackles of laughter then emanate outward. Her voice is both shy and strangely commanding.

Kid 1 Enthusiastic. "Come on tell him he's got ...Small Meat." "He's got small meat." The repeated line is to no one in particular.

The whole breakroom explodes into a cacophony of "oh no you didn't 's" and such.

Kid "c" "Can anyone hold my wallet for me after I get it cashed? It'll have 89 dollars in it and I will be going away for a few days."

Kid "b" "Juvey?"

Kid "c" "Yea."

Kid "b" "They said I tried shooting something."

***

M-16's ( the 16 year old) Mom is now working in the store with us.

Here are M-16's tips for selling bread.

1. Wear the Carmen Miranda Hat
2. Tell People "Nothing says Love ...like warm bread...

Attention Shoplifters:

Business Week offers up the details on how the revolution in surveillance systems will take place.

For the most part it will be unadvertised, as most consumers prefer not to be followed and observed silently while they purchase their children's milk.

"Already, tech startups are working on even more promising -- or intimidating -- systems to track customers through the entire shopping process. There's even talk of stores installing facial recognition programs and license plate readers to catch repeat offenders. You're not likely to notice much of a difference at your favorite shopping haunts. But make no mistake -- they're noticing you."

I just hope they allow employess are allowed a glimpse of all the hot milf's missing thongs with "cameras mounted in cashier stands about six inches off the ground scrutinize the bottom racks of passing carts."

That would almost make working at agrocery store worth it.

Just a quick note...please leave with all the underwear you came with.

Attention Shoppers:

"Will the person who lost their black thong in the grocery bread aisle please come to Customer Service to claim their belongings."

No, I did not make that announcement today. But I could have.

My store (as far as I know) does not sell loose thong underwear for women. But that did not stop me from finding a pair of loose black thong styled panties in the bread aisle today.

"Did you pick it up?" My brother asks. "Fuck No!...Who knows where its been?"

Just as mysteriously as it appeared... it disappeared. My exit from the store takes me right up that aisle and alas ...no panties.

Long Live the Revolution!

I only celebrate 2 religious holidays a year. May Day and Labor Day.

I will be working my religious holiday this year.

I don't work Mondays normally, so I didn't think to ask for it off.

So of course I got scheduled on Labor Day.

"I just treated it like any other day." Answered M&M when I asked her about why I was working the only day working people shouldn't have to.

Of course you did. Why not? Just like I treat the fact that I have been disfigured* and disabled** as just a "regular part of working for the capitalist pigs."

Lucky for me though, this is PalmGhetto. So a regular workday is never just a "regular workday." Instead of spending my holiday trying to avoid chanting pro-union songs all day (I don't know any lyrics), I can spend the day trying to avoid white trash conversations at my lunchtime locker.

The following conversation is not verbatim:

After informing me that the "Bitch in the register next to me" better "watch her ass" mostly because "she is talking a lot of shit," I overhear the middle aged cashier on her cell telling her prospects that she "had a little something if you are interested."

Next she busts out with her "tabs" and asks if I needed any. I politely declined and mentioned I'd rather continue to vomit up my own blood up instead.

* I hesitate to place a picture of the hideous scar on the lower half of my thumb which I received from scraping it against the trash can bin.

** I've been vomiting liters of blood from all the Aleve I've been taking for the back pain I incurred whilst mopping an entire bakery floor with a kitchen sized mop.

I'd walk through a hurricane to get to my paycheck.

Or at least a tropical depression. But that probably won't hit me until the walk home tomorrow.

Of course if you worked at my store you might think twice about braving such a storm as your paycheck would be Nelson de la Rosa tiny.

Other than low pay another bonus for working at my store is that they would only pay you for 19.5 hours rather than the full 35 plus hours that you actually worked. That's because my time clock doesn't record you as punched "in" if you are more than 7 minutes early or late. I am late everyday. That means I basically work for free.

"Um..there seems to be a problem with my check..."

"Hey, are you doing the bread promotion?" This is not the answer you are looking for when 46 dollars of you hard earned money has suddenly gone missing.

"But I can assure you that someone is looking into it."

Very comforting. This coming from an assistant manger who's training video I watched told me that if I was asked to work off the clock I should say "no." Really? You need to tell your employees that they are actually supposed to get paid. I still have no idea how they got the shot in the training video of an entire store breaking out in song and dance about how great working for $6.55 is.

The industry I work in is rife with this kind of exploitation. It commonly employs child labour (under 16), refuses to pay overtime. Blah... Blah.. Blah.....

I know what you are going to say, 'get another job'. Maybe like a pharmacist. I could still chat it up with all the 16 year old cashiers (who totally looked 18) and I would still find the time to laugh it up and 'fake meringue dance' every time they see a baker walk past with his "hotbox."

But I live in Palmetto. There are only two other places hiring within a five mile area. Circle K and 7-11. While both are "always hiring," in fact just the other day a guy walked into a Circle K without enough money for a big gulp, and he got hired for 24 minutes to work it off. Meanwhile, I can't even get an interview.

**Update**

The birds are no longer bothering me, they have taken up root somewhere in the back storage of the store. Showing themselves only occasionally by dive bombing for food on my daily trash runs.

You might not think that this would still be a bother, but I throw away more food in a day than the guys in the local homeless shelter could possibly eat. Not that they will get any of that food anymore, because the director of the homeless shelter somehow pissed of my bakery manger 'M&M.'

Now I guess the only complaint I have is when I am chattin' it up with said 16 year old is that I keep getting interrupted by Weird Leprosy Guy. I don't wanna sound like a jerk, because the guy is in a wheelchair, but he had amazing 'life like" leprosy soars all over his body. And because this is Palmetto he did not feel the need to put on a shirt just because he was making a trip up to the store.

What does Weird Leprosy Guy want? Well, it isn't easy to figure it out initially. He mumbles. It requires you to get really close to him. Close enough to 'catch something' if you get my drift.

"Beer!"

He finally exclaims to my young workmate. Cleaverly depositing enough saliva and germs to kill all of Tom Cruises enemies in seconds. What else could he have wanted?

Welcome to PalmGhetto.

All you want is to get to Rally's to
get a few of those 69 cent cheese burgers in you.

Then you could woolf 'em down before your break is over. Hopefully without an 'incident' breaking out. Not likely.

Welcome to PalmGhetto.

First, you must realize that you if you want the '69 cent' cheeseburgers advertised on the Rally's Sign, you must ask for the '69 cent version' of the cheeseburgers.

Or you do not get the '69 cent' cheeseburgers. You get the 99 cent cheeseburgers. This same philosophy applies to getting the 69 cent shake or the '69 cent' hot dog.

"You want the 69 cent version of the cheeseburgers?" Inquires the ubiquitous Mexican fast food employee. All employees are Mexican at fast food restaurants in PalmGhetto, in compliance with city ordinances.

"Um...ya...I guess." By now you will have regretted your decision to get the 69 cent burger. You will wonder what the non-69 cent version of the "same as far as anyone can tell" cheeseburger is.

"I suppose they don't funnel any of their biological juices into the buns." You think to yourself.

Conveniently located accross from the puerile spitting cashier at the second of Rally's/Checkers famous "walk up windows" is one of the native species of PalmGhetto's White Trash. Teen boy/girl couple.

Teen boy/girl couple are joined together in a sort of conspicuously pre-coitus poise. Hands run from buttocks to back. Legs are intertwined. Tongues dart.

You are able to admire the view of her slender legs and backside because girl distracts boy from his otherwise vigilant eye-patrol of all things "his" by the carefully constructed force of her hands. Hands which pull and tugg at his head creating a managed choreography where once was there was once only youthful incompetence.

You take your time enjoying their display as it appears the show is for you and because the workers at Rally's "We call it Checkers in Florida" are both slow in service and incompetent in filling orders.

That is until some nimrod drives by and shouts "FAAAAAAG!"

This gets the attention of the pimpled yet so obviously hetero boy. He breaks the lustful embrace of his soon-to-be 'Baby's-Mama' and in an evolutionary ironic instant is firmly ensconced in the stereotypical stance of Fight-or-flight.

You then see his his hands go searching for something in his back pocket. And within the instant of the item's appearance you gleam forth its identity. A knife. The young man has drawn forth a knife.

Meanwhile; the hoodlum who was screaming epithets while driving his Ford truck, has dashed away-merrily offering up both his middle fingers in a ritual farewell salute.

You; however, are going nowhere. You cannot get away. You can just stand there hypnotized by the glimpse of metal darting back and forth around the young teen in a primitive pantomime of West Side Story.

You see, you still have an order to receive. It is ony then with cheeseburger in hand that you can attempt your getaway.

And it is only during your getaway that you are able to discern that the boy has not chosen to wield a switchblade, nor even the pedestrian pick of pilferers everywhere the common pocket knife.

But instead he has ineptly chosen to defend his honor with his mother's steak knife. That's right, when not cutting Macaroni and Cheese or slicing through Salisbury Steak the humble steak knife is the trusty sidekick to any Real ASS Kicking which might go down in the PalmGhetto.

Baker's Box. Easy answers to tuff Questions. Otherwise known as Recapitulation to Ontogeny.

Q. Why are there so many flies in your store?

A. First, I am pretty sure that Florida does not have a Health Department. Since I don't have to answer to them, I am not sure why I have to answer to you about it.

Second, we have no blowers in the entrance to our store.

Third, we have no insecticide in the garbage. That would require a telephone call and a repair bill. Thanks to Walmart we can no longer afford either.

Anyways you get what you deserve, I know you Rednecks can see all the birds and stuff. You just figure we are cleaner than your trailer anyways so... wtf might as well ask for a cookie.

Q. Why do you look so pissed when my kids ask for a free cookie.

A. Ok, first it's a free cookie. You have no rights to that cookie. So all you 14 year old punks need to stop with the "you don't have any chocolate chip, I hate brownie cookies?" You get the cookie you get.

You're 14, you can't get that excited by a cookie at your age anymore. I know, I tried using them. Michael Jackson tried it. Why do you think he put an Amusement park in his front yard?

Sure, it would have worked on that Jon Benet Ramsey Kid, but she's like 6 and I gotta have some standards.

Second, I realize the cookie will be the first solid food your kid has had all day, I just request that you wipe his little maggots nose before he tries to pull on my apron or make some skin to skin contact with me, because no one has taught him about the uses of tissue paper.

Q. What is the tissue for next to the sample box?

A. I am not sure, no one ever uses it it. No one does. And most of you fuckers don't wash your hands either. So please, try a little something from the samples box.

Got any more questions for the Baker's Box. Just e-mail me and I will make you famous.

I work in a zoo.

You can't do much to surprise me these days. If I am not being constantly swarmed by flies or attacked by by giant ants called termites or getting drenched soaking wet, I couldn't call it a work day.

So I push through the back door entrance to the bakery to find birds. There are birds in the bakery.

"Is this a fucking zoo?"

Seriously, I do not like birds. I have mentioned somewhere that birds like to attack me. I was attacked by a flock of seagulls, then my girlfriend dumps me on the same day I get fired.

My appreciation for Darwin knows no bounds, but I have no intention of share working space with finches, or whatever the fuck they were.

"I don't think you should put a bread crumb trail down and lead it to the freezer in hopes of killing those cute little birds."

I don't see why not. That's how I kill the flies.

Britney Spears Wasted.

I promised all of you who read my boring articles, that you could get this.

If you have not seen Britney stoned or heard how Mr. Spears attempts to explain to her using common sense, then you have missed out on one of the most important topics of discussion of the 21st century.

Thing is, I have this exact conversation with every woman I have ever dated.

Smart chicks won't date me. Only I am having the conversation with fat Britney, so I don't have half the patience that Kevin shows.

I guess the millions don't hurt either.

The Mismeasure of Poverty

"I don't want to learn about how the official poverty statistics."

If you read this post then I will post the Youtube video where Britney Spears forces us to see that Kevin Federline is like 29 times smarter than we ever gave him credit for being.

The Mismeasure of Poverty:

"Just months after its debut in May 1965 the War on Poverty's new Office of Economic Opportunity designated the measure as its unofficial working definition of poverty.

By August 1969, the Bureau of the Budget had stipulated that the poverty thresholds used in calculating American poverty rates would constitute the federal government's official statistical definition for poverty. It has remained so ever since."

The author of this report gives a nice overview of the historical circumstances that surrounded the creation of the OPR. The author then goes on to treat the purpose of measuring an absolute level of poverty as the holy grail of poverty stats.

Did you know that people in 1120 didn't have running water? I guess there aren't any poor people left now, because using a relative measure of poverty is for liberals. And we know wacked they are.

Libertarians might enjoy the report as well...mostly because they are heartless.

No threat from Terror.

Thinking about giving up your privacy to get safe from terrorism? This report from the CATO institute suggest there is no need.

Update***

Nice timing assholes...

UFO releases new album in September.

You heard it here first.

UFO, the world's greatest rock band will be releasing the new album next month! September 26th 2006.

I am in line as we speak.

Changes are coming...be prepared!

Don't tell me you are going to change the focus of this blog again. Ok I won't tell you that then.

Why Signing Statements Matter.

Dave Lindorff writes: about Signing Statements

"Over the course of the past year, it has been discovered that President Bush, during his five years in office, has cancelled all or part of 750 laws of Congress, quietly and with the stroke of a pen. These so-called "signing statements" have been used to invalidate laws passed by Congress to do everything from require government reporting on the uses of the Patriot Act's invasive provisions to banning torture and establishing a special investigator for corruption in Iraq."

Gail Chaddock Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor :

"But it resurfaced on Capitol Hill this week, as lawmakers consider giving President Bush line-item veto authority and, behind the scenes, negotiate with the White House over Mr. Bush's claim that he has authority to conduct domestic wiretapping without a warrant, despite a 1978 law that says otherwise."

Source:

Cafferty on how Bush is the Decider! on Signing Statements.

Watch where you pour that thing, Sonny.

Whenever I begin to think that our government is on the verge of Big Brotherhood, somebody in Corporate America decides to remind me that most businesses already have that strategy.

AllinVegas.com reports on a alarming addition to employer surveillance.

"Treasure Island (TI), a Las Vegas hotel and casino, has installed a system utilizing RFID to track the amount and type of liquor its bartenders pour. The new system, the Beverage Tracker, was supplied by Capton, a San Francisco-based provider of liquor-monitoring technology. The system has been in operation at two of the hotelÂ’s bars for the past month and will soon be added to two more."

I had heard of a device that limits bartenders from over pouring drinks, but this kind of tracking is getting out of hand. How much control are you wiling to cede to an employer for your paycheck? If you think this kind of monitoring is just for low skill low wage work, think again. The technology for absolute surveillance will be here soon. I expect a deafening silence to greet humankind's surrender to total monitoring. That's why I call my site the Silent Totalitarianism.

It should be readily apparent to even the most partisan Republican that corporations have the desire to do so, and the market justifications ready to enable them.

Domestic surveillance in US: not just phone data, banking too

When I decided to change the focus of this blog, I thought "what if there is not enough news to keep posting about."

In the words of G.W. Bush "I appreciate all your help," but I wish you guys would slow down with all the spying stuff, I can't keep up!

Boing Boing posts about a NYTimes article that details how "counterterrorism officials have gained access to financial records from a vast international database and examined banking transactions involving thousands of Americans and others in the United States."

From Political Theory Daily even more about the "NSA’s surveillance program undermines the rule of law without producing real gains in security."

From Salon, "is the NSA spying on US Internet traffic? Two former AT&T employees say the telecom giant has maintained a secret."

AT&T also "has issued an updated privacy policy that takes effect Friday. The changes are significant because they appear to give the telecom giant more latitude when it comes to sharing customers' personal data with government officials."

Arizona passes emergency bill on DIEBOLD!

Here is Evil Jan Brewer's statement on electronic Voting.

Statement Regarding Today's Voting Equipment Lawsuit:

"It's a shame that certain individuals are attempting to derail the rights of disabled citizens to vote privately and independently for the first time ever. Make no mistake, the accessible voting devices at issue in this lawsuit were purchased solely for the benefit of our disabled community, and these machines have been fully tested and certified at the national and state levels. While the vast majority of voters will continue to vote on the optical scan devices at their polling places that are not the subject of this litigation, I strongly oppose taking away these new accessible devices for the one percent of votes that will be cast on these machines.

It is also important to remember, our state has established strict security procedures and guidelines to assure the integrity of this equipment and the voting process. Similar unsubstantiated lawsuits like this one today have been filed in other states, and have been unsuccessful. I have referred this matter to the Attorney General and have asked him to seek a dismissal as soon as possible.

Jan Brewer Arizona Secretary of State

In what can only be thought of as a rebuke of Sec. of State Jan Brewer the Arizona Legislature passed an emergency bill that "Guarantees VVPAT, Hand Audits, and Durable Paper Ballots."

The Brad blog has all the details on the bill.

Compare the new "sexier" Jan top Pic with bleach blond dew with the former matronly Jan Brewer.

Cheney's 1% Doctrine. Plus more links!

From the NYTimes, a book review.

In "The One Percent Doctrine," Mr. Suskind discloses that First Data Corporation — one of the world's largest processors of credit card transactions and the parent company of Western Union — began cooperating with the F.B.I. in the wake of 9/11, providing information on financial transactions and wire transfers from around the world. The huge data-gathering operation in some respects complemented the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program (secretly authorized by Mr. Bush months after the Sept. 11 attacks), which monitored specific conversations as well as combed through large volumes of phone and Internet traffic in search of patterns that might lead to terrorism suspects.

Subsrciption required. Source.

Here's something to look forward to a Robot Colony on Mars.

Just bought yourself a new digital camera? Somebody wants to make sure you can't photograph things you aren't supposed to.

The Georgia Institute of Technology have built a prototype device that they say can stop digital cameras functioning in a given area. The device uses off-the-shelf equipment - camera-mounted sensors, lighting equipment, a projector and a computer - to scan for, identify and neutralize both still and video digital cameras. The researchers have their eye on two markets - protecting limited areas against clandestine photography and stopping video copying in larger areas such as theaters, explained Geogia Tech's Gregory Abowd.

Executive branch to EFF: We're above the law

The Film
Aaron Russo's America: Freedom to Facism.

Determined to find the law that requires American citizens to pay income tax, producer Aaron Russo ("The Rose," "Trading Places") set out on a journey to find the evidence. This film which is neither left, nor right-wing is a startling examination of government. It exposes the systematic erosion of civil liberties in America since 1913 when the Federal Reserve system was fraudulently created. Through interviews with U.S. Congressmen, a former IRS Commissioner, former IRS and FBI agents and tax attorneys and authors, Russo connects the dots between money creation, federal income tax, and the national identity card which becomes law in May 2008. This ID card will use Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips which are essentially homing devices used to track people. This film shows in great detail and undeniable facts that America is moving headlong into a fascist police state. Wake up!

This week in links.

A system that lets your computer "listen" to your television to create targeted web adverts has been designed and tested by researchers at Google.

"Viral Marketing" to become the norm? Where Brain Science and Marketing Meet.

Mark Crispin Miller's blog is focused on Elections. The Brad Blog is my blog but much better!

Keep up on Robots here!

The growing inequality in America.

"AMERICANS do not go in for envy. The gap between rich and poor is bigger than in any other advanced country, but most people are unconcerned. Whereas Europeans fret about the way the economic pie is divided, Americans want to join the rich, not soak them. Eight out of ten, more than anywhere else, believe that though you may start poor, if you work hard, you can make pots of money. It is a central part of the American Dream."

The article has an extensive list of links that deal with income inequality as well. Or try and visit www.inequality.org

How do you forget the name of your blog?

Ok, so maybe I change the name of this blog 5 times a day. I will bet ya this one sticks. Of course it's 2:38 in the morning and I am on my 4th Natural Light beer. Don't ever bet against me- no matter how much you think the guy in the Fast in the Furious is not Ja Rule- otherwise you too will be offering up your secret beer stash to me.

Here is why this blog should be called the Silent Totalitarianism.

Robot safety.

“Security, safety and sex are the big concerns,” says Henrik Christensen, chairman of the European Robotics Network at the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, and one of the organisers of the new robo-ethics group."

"Should robots that are strong enough or heavy enough to crush people be allowed into homes? Is “system malfunction” a justifiable defence for a robotic fighter plane that contravenes the Geneva Convention and mistakenly fires on innocent civilians? And should robotic sex dolls resembling children be legally allowed?"

The Transparent Society

A must read book for concerned citizens. The review from Amazon.com:

David Brin takes some of our worst notions about threats to privacy and sets them on their ears. According to Brin, there is no turning back the growth of public observation and inevitable loss of privacy--at least outside of our own homes. Too many of our transactions are already monitored: Brin asserts that cameras used to observe and reduce crime in public areas have been successful and are on the rise. There's even talk of bringing in microphones to augment the cameras. Brin has no doubt that it's only a matter of time before they're installed in numbers to cover every urban area in every developed nation.

While this has the makings for an Orwellian nightmare, Brin argues that we can choose to make the same scenario a setting for even greater freedom. The determining factor is whether the power of observation and surveillance is held only by the police and the powerful or is shared by us all. In the latter case, Brin argues that people will have nothing to fear from the watchers because everyone will be watching each other. The cameras would become a public resource to assure that no mugger is hiding around the corner, our children are playing safely in the park, and police will not abuse their power.

No simplistic Utopian, Brin also acknowledges the many dangers on the way. He discusses how open access to information can either threaten or enhance freedom. It is one thing, for example, to make the entire outdoors public and another thing to allow the cameras and microphones to snoop into our homes. He therefore spends a lot of pages examining what steps are required to assure that a transparent society evolves in a manner that enhances rather than restricts freedom. This is a challenging view of tomorrow and an exhilarating read for those who don't mind challenges to even the most well-entrenched cultural assumptions. --Elizabeth Lewis

Here is a list of Amazon books on the subject. Source.