Technology and the invasion of privacy and its effects on the criminal justice system over the last 100 yearsSearching the Internet for more than 5 hours on this topic I found a very appropriate quote it is said: The government has more subtle and far-reaching means at its disposal to invade privacy. Discoveries and inventions have made it possible for the government, by means far more effective than standing on the wheel, to obtain disclosure in court of what is whispered in the closet. United States Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandies, 1928 If Justice Brandeis could see the advances in technology, he would realize how prophetic his statement is. He would also be shocked by new surveillance technologies that go far beyond his wildest dreams. Now that the Cold War is over, bureaucracy has no choice but to follow us from cradle to grave, from bank accounts to bedrooms. Many of the technologies created by the Department of Defense. they have begun to creep into law enforcement, various civil agencies and private companies. The laws on the books are old in comparison and incapable of protecting us from the violation of our rights. In the old west there was no system to track criminals. If someone was wanted, their photo was published with a reward. If convicted, he was sentenced to whatever the judge deemed appropriate. In the early 1960s surveillance and monitoring was a slow and orderly process of manual and/or clerical work. To track a person's activities you had to physically follow them or search through volumes of paper archives. It was necessary to contact everyone with whom the suspect came into contact. to learn his habits. Electronic surveillance was individual if your department was lucky enough to have it. For example, it took East Germany's 500,000 secret informants and 10,000 transcribers just to listen to the conversations of its citizens. Computers capable of storing large amounts of data have revolutionized the world of surveillance. The benefits of law enforcement are enormous, and government bureaucracies have been able to expand their reach and efficiency. Will technology was also expanding into private business and they were studying its uses. Huge companies offering credit cards, phone services, banking, and many other consumer services have begun using computers with enormous storage capacities. Nowadays, information about every person in the developed world is computerized and stored in several if not hundreds of computers. Your information is collected, analyzed and disseminated to..... With computer networks, the internet and links, today it is possible to trace everyone with a single identification code, your tax code. With your specific identifier everything about you can be immediately available. Because medical, dental, financial and general information is stored in the data