Interesting quote, but I have to completely disagree with your conclusion that it's about technology. In fact, even your quote itself from Mr. Church is clearly

Interesting quote, but I have to completely disagree with your conclusion that it's about technology. In fact, even your quote itself from Mr. Church is clearly stating that only our laws can restrain our technology and maintain our freedom. You've missed his point entirely. There have always been examples of government overreach, whether by technological means or otherwise. But, what we are witnessing today is a near complete rewriting and reinterpretation of the laws that protect us from such overreach. The pace of technological innovation has simply served as the vehicle for implementing this overreach. Starting with the PATRIOT act and Bush's legal team's loose interpretation of existing protections, we have seen this country veer dangerously into dissolution of fundamental rights, torture, extra-judicial killings, wars of choice, a vastly expanded surveillance state and more. It is not the technology that has enabled this. It is the laws. And only behind the shock of 9/11 could the collective psyche of the American public be rendered so unbalanced and so fearful as to allow such fundamental and drastic change to our country's beliefs, ethos, and laws. >...technologists hold the key to hope in what would otherwise be a hopeless situation. The hackers here can create technology that can subvert the Government's tyranny" That is a dangerous fantasy and a technologists' pipe dream. It is completely misguided and follows from the common belief that you have articulated above. As I mentioned, it is the laws, not the technology that pose the foundational threat. From a technology standpoint, we control nothing. Engaging in a game of cat-and-mouse with a government whose resources are effectively limitless and one who is unbounded by any laws would be disastrous. We will lose. We are losing. Again, from Mr. Church's quote above, "the most careful effort to resist...is within the reach of the government to know". So, as much as we like to dream about freedom-fighting hackers saving the day, it's utter nonsense. If not for whistle-blowers like Snowden, we wouldn't even know where the battlefield was, let alone how to fight. The laws need to be clear and they need to protect whistleblowers, so there is no doubt that they are heroes. We need to restore our protections and return to our principles. That is what will save us, if anything will.