THE furore sparked by the escape from Cyprus of a man said to be one of Russia’s most capable spies has intensified with authorities rejecting a request to hand over his personal effects to the FBI. Metsos, who escaped the island in mysterious circumstances less than 48 hours after his arrest last week, is alleged to have financed the spy network shuttling between Moscow and the US.

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the National Security Agency’s program of surveillance without warrants was illegal, rejecting the Obama administration’s effort to keep shrouded in secrecy one of the most disputed counterterrorism policies of former President George W. Bush.

Democrats have retreated from adding new privacy protections to the primary U.S counterterrorism law, stymied by Senate Republicans who argued the changes would weaken terror investigations. (It’s always Red vs. Blue… notice that?)

Law enforcement is tracking Americans’ cell phones in real time—without the benefit of a warrant. How many of the owners of the country’s 277 million cell phones even know that companies like AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint can track their devices in real time? Most “don’t have a clue,” says privacy advocate James X. Dempsey.

Once we enter what James Cascio called the “participatory panopticon” and the permanent record of our actions are stored away in the prison of social media archives such as Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, WordPress and the like, diminishing returns come into play. The ability of behavioral economists to accurately profile users and anticipate their actions declines proportionately to the increasing awareness of the observer in the life of the observed.

The world’s largest Internet search company and the world’s most powerful electronic surveillance organization are teaming up in the name of cybersecurity. But sources with knowledge of the arrangement said the alliance is being designed to allow the two organizations to share critical information without violating Google’s policies or laws that protect the privacy of Americans’ online communications. Riiiiiight.

The experimental search-by-sight feature, called Google Goggles, has a database of billions of images that informs its analysis of what’s been uploaded. It can recognize books, album covers, artwork, landmarks, places, logos, and more. “It is our goal to be able to identify any image…”

Upon seeing the types of surveillance law enforcement can do, customers might “become unnecessarily afraid that their lines have been tapped or call Verizon to ask if their lines are tapped (a question we cannot answer).”