Just consider the possibility that any large multi-national corporation or national government these days has datacenters that contain untold computational powe

Just consider the possibility that any large multi-national corporation or national government these days has datacenters that contain untold computational power. A hundred thousand CPU cores to a hundred million, with petabytes of RAM and perhaps exabytes of storage. It is now not only entirely feasible but it is but a flesh wound to surveil everyone, everywhere, all the time. In fact, it's far less suspicious to just constantly suck in as much data as possible all the time, and filter, index, and store it for later. In the event of a mass casualty event, like a Boston marathon bombing, 9/11, or something like what you mentioned, there will be no activation necessary, just a few SQL queries, maybe a mapreduce. You are nothing. You are navel lint. But all the navel lint gets sucked up into the filter, too. Welcome to the quiet all-seeing eye. Tremble and kneel to those who will wield it! Don't deviate from social norms. Don't be different. Don't stick out. Just pretend you don't know.