There are convincing arguments to be made for law enforcement agencies' access to location data, like in missing person cases, kidnappings or maybe fugitive situations. It just seems like it ought to be a little more mediated than this:

[At the Intelligence Support Systems for Lawful Interception, Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Gathering conference] Sprint Nextel's electronic surveillance manager Paul Taylor described an automated system that law enforcement could use to easily look up subscriber whereabouts.

They can submit a request for a particular user's location up to every three minutes, for a period of 60 days, which accounts for the 8 million figure. What else does Sprint collect about you, for sharing?

Sprint keeps 24 months worth of URL history for some devices and that's not even because of law enforcement. "It's because marketing wants to rifle through the data," [Taylor] said.

The marketing data retention sounds like the kind of thing you might unknowingly sign off on in some kind of unintelligible user agreement, and the location stuff could conceivably be used only in palatable ways (if you broadly consider warranted wiretapping palatable) but they're both reminders that your telco—no, this isn't just Sprint's issue—knows a lot about you. Or, more to the point, that the average cellphone user has no idea how much data their wireless provider is collecting (or can collect) from them, and specifically, how it's used.

Queasy yet? No worries! There's a pharmacy two blocks to the west, and one block to the south. And they have your favorite pills. [PCWorld]

Dr. Kenneth Foster, who has done boatloads of studies on Wi-Fi and cell signals, says, "Health agencies such as the World Health Organisation have repeatedly examined the scientific evidence and concluded that there is no convincing evidence for hazard from radiofrequency energy at levels below these international guidelines." Well, in any case, most doctors will agree that the best way to make sure your kids stay safe is to fashion helmets or hats out of tin foil for them, which should block any harmful energy waves. [Computer Weekly]

For those of you that are even thinking about buying this, you should be aware that there's a green light next to the iSight that comes on whenever the camera's active. Available for iMacs now and MacBooks and MacBook Pros later. – Jason Chen

Product Page [iPatch via Gadgetell]

The TextSpy is a professional USB SIM card reader. Install the software provided on the CD onto your PC, plug in the TextSpy with the relevant SIM card inserted and, Shazam-a-lam-a-ding-dong, the last 10 to 20 text messages should show up. But really, guys, at $200, is it worth it? Get your revenge and hit 'em where it hurts: find a new pizza place. – Ad Dugdale

Product Page [Gadgets.co.uk via Shiny Shiny]

Because we're not so self-important to think anyone would bother to listen to anything we're saying or doing, we're not thinking this little $229 unit would be worth it. However, the website that tries to scare you into buying one of these homemade-looking devices is slightly amusing. – Charlie White

The MCH-22H [SpyNexus, via c|net]

Product page

The company also offers a RFID-blocking passport case, which will solve that problem of being an easily-identified sitting-duck American if terrorists should decide to carry RFID readers with them. The passport case is just $18, and at $15, the wallet is reasonably priced, too.

Product Page

NEC Secure Educational Laptop [Bios Magazine]

Best prices on laptop security accessories [Shopping.com]