There's this man-on-the-street video where people at an organic vegetable market are asked to sign a petition outlawing Di-Hydrogen Monoxide. Many do, as they a

There's this man-on-the-street video where people at an organic vegetable market are asked to sign a petition outlawing Di-Hydrogen Monoxide. Many do, as they are advised it so corrosive that it cuts through rock! I'm starting to think gov't spying is the techie's equivalent boogieman. I fear this is born out of a shallow understanding of dystopian surveillance state sci-fi. Currently, law enforcement can already intercept your calls and emails - Yes that means compelling your teleco provider with extra work. They can already come into your house and take anything they want: read any document, open any safe. All provided they have a court order. If they do any of this without a court order then they go to jail. And all the evidence collected illegally gets thrown out from being used against you. Because we have standards for what can be used as evidence in a trial, we continue to have liberty, not because law enforcement has been kept in the dark technologically speaking. In fact, it's some of the least technologically advanced societies - like N. Korea and Afghanistan (under Taliban i.e. banned music) that come to resemble sci-fi surveillance states. Finally: your smartphone's logs, your DNA, public surveillance video are far far far likelier to exonerate you if you're innocent than wrongfully convict you. We're thinking about this issue all wrong and technology will continue to play a role of helping the traditionally disenfranchised resist police over-reach - think what portable cameras have done to police interactions already.