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Maybe my question was a little indirect. I was wondering if there was a criteria we could agree upon and publicly uphold to make data collection OK. For examp

Maybe my question was a little indirect. I was wondering if there was a criteria we could agree upon and publicly uphold to make data collection OK. For example, immediately throwing out any piece of data collected unless the public agrees that that piece of data is likely to help counter-terrorism. Of course the NSA would then lose the history of data that would be useful after a known terrorist was found, but the system would greatly help with privacy concerns.

jlarocco 13y ago
No. I'm not convinced "terrorism" cases should be handled any differently than any other criminal cases. It's such a vague term, I'm not even sure it should be possible to prosecute it. What does it even mean for a person to "be a terrorist"? Clearly if a person has blown up a building or plane they should be prosecuted for that. But trying to prosecute before the fact in the name of counter-terrorism seems a little too much like thought crime, IMO.