> Is this different in any practical sense to an old fashioned request for physical paper documents?
Just that the measure of recorded data is perhaps several orders of magnitude larger that it was merely ~20-30 years ago.
I think back to my life in the 90s, and what information was recorded about me as I went about my day-to-day life, and it was minuscule compared to today. You could track who I called, but not what I said. You could track some of my purchases, but I used electronic forms of payment much less then.
Now, I text or message much more than I voice call, so that is all recorded. Every now and then if I want to get really freaked out I go to myactivity.google.com (I've got an Android phone and am otherwise "all in" on Google services) and, say, playback my location history, search history, or everything I've said to Google assistant.
I think we are really just coming to terms with the fact that "ephemera" no longer really exists, and the deep impact this will have on society.
Of course, all that stuff could still have been recorded with a warrant 20-30 years ago. Though it's true it would have required foresight & more effort.
Just that the measure of recorded data is perhaps several orders of magnitude larger that it was merely ~20-30 years ago.
I think back to my life in the 90s, and what information was recorded about me as I went about my day-to-day life, and it was minuscule compared to today. You could track who I called, but not what I said. You could track some of my purchases, but I used electronic forms of payment much less then.
Now, I text or message much more than I voice call, so that is all recorded. Every now and then if I want to get really freaked out I go to myactivity.google.com (I've got an Android phone and am otherwise "all in" on Google services) and, say, playback my location history, search history, or everything I've said to Google assistant.
I think we are really just coming to terms with the fact that "ephemera" no longer really exists, and the deep impact this will have on society.