Written to cast more shadows on the NSA terrorist surveillance program, but the bottom line issue is captured in the beginning of this piece in the Washington Post:
Fewer than 10 U.S. citizens or residents a year, according to an authoritative account, have aroused enough suspicion during warrantless eavesdropping to justify interception of their domestic calls, as well. That step still requires a warrant from a federal judge, for which the government must supply evidence of probable cause.
The number of paranoids in this country just took a big hit. As I mentioned the other day, we might catch turtles in our drift nets, but it is in our interest to cut them loose: and we do.
Additional, insightful data points on alternative means for finding bad guys on-line are discussed, which alone makes this article worth reading. Methodological issues aside, the only alternative to pursuing this course of action is to cut off our ears to spite our face.
