Imagine if we gave this sort of power to a 1960s government. It would be very effective for identifying and convicting homosexuals and communists. Those specif

Imagine if we gave this sort of power to a 1960s government. It would be very effective for identifying and convicting homosexuals and communists. Those specific groups are safer today, but humans as a species haven't changed. We will almost certainly abuse that power against some other marginalized group, whether we mean to or not. Moreover, this sort of thing has historically been abused for the suppression of dissent. For example, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO