> These folks need observation for a free country to be able to do the various things it has to do. Do you have any evidence for that? I would argue the exact

> These folks need observation for a free country to be able to do the various things it has to do. Do you have any evidence for that? I would argue the exact opposite: in order for a free country to exist, the amount of spying done by the country on its citizens and even outsiders must be pretty small at most. Each unit of "watching" applied to the public reduces "freedom" by the exact same amount. It isn't clear whether there's any increase in security at all. The watching may be 100% destructive, with no benefits whatsoever.