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“The US should do what the Japanese do: track every foreigner’s mobile. If he does anything freaky jump on him.
“But Mr. Feldspar, suppose this international criminal doesn’t carry a mobile?” demanded representative Chuck Kingston (R-Alabama). It would have been rude to point out the obvious. So I didn’t. But look, just between you and me: Anybody without a mobile is not any kind of danger to society. He’s a pitiful derelict. Because he’s got no phone. Duh.
He also has no email, voicemail, pager, chat client or gaming platform. And probably no maps, guidebooks, web browser, video player, or radio. No transit tickets, payment system, biometric ID, environmental safety sensor, or Breathalyzer. No alarm clock, camera, laser scanner, navigator, pedometer, flashlight, remote control, or hidef projector. No house key, office key, car key… Are you still with me? If you don’t have a mobile, the modern world is a seething jungle crisscrossed by electric fences crowned with barbed wired. A guy without a mobile is beyond derelict. He’s a nonperson.” …
Bruce Sterling, Dispatches from the Hyperlocal Future (2017), Wired, July 2007, pp162-3
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