I think that the idea of surveillance is to increase safety with only a marginal decrease in freedom.
Additionally, one could argue that as our freedom grows the opportunities for surveillance increase. That is, if you use the same means of communication as available in 1776 you'll have just as much freedom as they did. But in 2013 you have much more freedom to communicate over various mediums. Your freedom has increased by a factor of x, but surveillance has decreased that freedom by a factor of y (where y is much less than x). The net gain is still positive, but less than unsurveilled access.
An interesting thought experiment is how well would an airline that does no security checks do versus one that does. Lets ignore the efficacy of security checks, and say that you're 10x more likely to die in the flight w/o security checks -- would most people be willing to endure the security checks (as they are today) for a 10x reduction in deaths (imagine the baseline is the number of deaths we see today). I think the answer is yes.
Likewise, I may well feel less free if there were no jails (maximizing actual physical freedom for prisoners) than if there is some.
Bravery doesn't equal stupidity. I'm not condoning the actions of the US government, but I think its unfair to assume increases in safety with an actual proportional decrease in freedom.
> Lets ignore the efficacy of security checks, and say that you're 10x more likely to die in the flight w/o security checks
You are justifying massive spending and time-cost based on your own unsupported hypothetical. Why do that when we already have data regarding airline safety with simple metal detectors? We know how that performs, and we know current efficacy is low and the cost to society is high.
The scanner isn't effective enough to warrant the additional delay and invasion of privacy, it's just that the former head of Homeland Security is now a lobbyist for that company. Has TSA caught a single terrorist yet?
The idea of NSA surveillance is not to increase safety with only a marginal decrease in freedom. Otherwise they wouldn't have unconstitutionally fingered targets for the DEA to parallel construct evidence for.
Thanks for a false dichotomy between scanners and nothing, by the way. If there were an airport near me that did metal detectors again (and another on the return leg) I'd use that exclusively. Anyone able to get a truly dangerous weapon through a metal detector without being nailed by the FBI or CIA first could easily get one through the full-body scanner also. So yes I would prefer to not support an unethical jerk and I would prefer to have my privacy back.
Additionally, one could argue that as our freedom grows the opportunities for surveillance increase. That is, if you use the same means of communication as available in 1776 you'll have just as much freedom as they did. But in 2013 you have much more freedom to communicate over various mediums. Your freedom has increased by a factor of x, but surveillance has decreased that freedom by a factor of y (where y is much less than x). The net gain is still positive, but less than unsurveilled access.
An interesting thought experiment is how well would an airline that does no security checks do versus one that does. Lets ignore the efficacy of security checks, and say that you're 10x more likely to die in the flight w/o security checks -- would most people be willing to endure the security checks (as they are today) for a 10x reduction in deaths (imagine the baseline is the number of deaths we see today). I think the answer is yes.
Likewise, I may well feel less free if there were no jails (maximizing actual physical freedom for prisoners) than if there is some.
Bravery doesn't equal stupidity. I'm not condoning the actions of the US government, but I think its unfair to assume increases in safety with an actual proportional decrease in freedom.