Here is a very interesting and cogent article from David Foster Wallace from 2007 about this very thing: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/11/ju

Here is a very interesting and cogent article from David Foster Wallace from 2007 about this very thing: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/11/just-asking/306288/ http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/11/just-ask... The truth is that Obama may be correct: it might be a valid trade to give up some freedom for security. But in a democracy it would be better to have that debate openly and let everyone have input into it. The main issue here, IMO, is the lack of democracy or accountability over this particular level of surveillance. Even those representatives who knew about it and wanted to have a public debate about it were kept quiet.