Self-respect: the secure feeling that no one, as yet, is suspicious.
H. L. Mencken




One of the most common arguements, and one that irritates me the most, in favour of increased surveillance is that "if you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about". It's recently been made public knowledge that not only has the NSA provided tens of thousands of "leads" to the FBI regarding "terrorist activities" in the states. In essence, anyone who did anything the least bit suspicious was suddenly being investigated. Given the scope of the Patriot Act, suspicious activities can include purchasing habits, reading materials, or people you work with.

For years, one of the mainstays of spy dramas set in the states portrayed the US intelligence community as brutally ruthless, efficient, and precise in it's data collection. As the curtains are pulled back on the NSA spying scandal it would seem that rather, the intelligence community works on a grand scale, scooping as much information as possible and then sorting it out later.