There has never been a more urgent need to preserve fundamental privacy protections and our system of checks and balances than the need we face today, as illegal government spying, provisions of the Patriot Act and government-sponsored torture programs transcend the bounds of law and our most treasured values in the name of national security.
With the advent of cheap and powerful new technologies, and the ever-increasing collection of data about our activities and our lives, mass surveillance has become easier than ever.
Unfortunately, the threat of terrorism has prompted many Americans to embrace sharp increases in government surveillance over our private lives. Too many people think we can stop terrorism by monitoring all the hundreds of millions of people who live in America, and by removing the legal safeguards that protect us against government spying.
The rush to surveillance is doubly tragic: not only does it threaten our privacy, but it is likely to sap resources from other, more effective measures that actually would make us safer.
