Clapper vs Amnesty International was also decided before specific details and scope of programs were released. Secondly, it won’t be “all done by software.” The data are there. The software is controlled by people. What the HELL makes you think that specific phone records of journalists or elected officials can’t be examined in order to garner blackmail material, and thus control them? What about monitoring non-violent political action groups like Occupy and destroying them from within?
At the very least, we need some sort of sunset on data retention. If it’s not an active part of a criminal investigation, it should be deleted after a few years. The Europeans have enacted this sort of legislation: why can’t we?
And yes, I’d rather have 20,000 drunk drivers on the road than have the kind of onerous surveillance that you propose. I believe in Ben Franklin’s quote about liberty and safety.
Lastly, why are 16,000 gun deaths per year acceptable, and we hold the 2nd Amendment sacrosanct, yet the possibility of a few deaths from terrorism causes us to trample the 4th?
