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It amazes me these articles don't get more comments.

That's because there are too many people who think a. that if everything is controlled then nothing bad can happen, b. that if everything is controlled it won't negatively affect them because they're not doing anything bad, and c. that even if whatever the proposed measure is doesn't fully control everything bad, at least it shows those who proposed it were sincerely trying. And, really, can we ask anything more than that people sincerely try or, at the very least, intend to do something ostensibly good?

All the while the poor bozos forget what the founding fathers said about the government as an untrustworthy servant--it is necessary for some things, but is certainly not to be given the run of the house.

It's been over two centuries since the founding of our country, but people still want to use mechanisms of societal and governmental power to further their own ends. That hasn't changed. But the level of naivete on the part of the masses seems to have grown. And with it have increased both the likelihood and scope of oppression when people in the government encourage the creation of truly dual-use mechanisms of control by stressing to the naive citizenry how safe it'll keep them from the bogeyman that threatens from without but says that they shouldn't worry about the possibility of oppression from the government types who are already here and who've designed the systems of control because this is the USA and their hearts are pure.

When there is only intent toward an evil end, but limited or no means to effect it, the threat posed by that end is limited or non-existent. But to the degree that a means is provided, to that degree the end is made more certain. The creation of these means of control, though, and their availability, together with constant factor of human corruption, vastly increases the likelihood of oppression. We may hear that "safeguards" have been put into place. Yeah, but when those doing the safeguarding are the very same folks who, after someone like Clinton was impeached, collectively got down on their senatorial knees before him because they--like Monica and others--judged that letting the matter--like his pants--drop was better for their own individual careers, you know that safety from abuse by government cannot be guaranteed by government.

Present day government at all levels has at its disposal an information and tracking system and firepower that makes anything used by the Gestapo and the Kremlin look medieval in comparison. The only reason things aren't as oppressive at the personal level as they were under the Nazis or Communists is not because the means don't exist but simply because no one has dared use them in a widespread, systematic way.