Page 124 - Privacy in a Cyber Age Policy and Practice

112 PRIVACY IN A CYBER AGE

“will amount to a ‘turnkey’ system that, in the wrong hands, could trans-
form the country into a totalitarian state virtually overnight. Every person
who values personal freedom, human rights and the rule of law must recoil
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against such a possibility, regardless of their political preference.” A few
things might be said in response.
First, all of the data that the government is collecting is already being
archived (at least for short periods—as discussed earlier) by private corpo-
rations and other entities. It is not the case that PRISM or other such pro-
grams entail the collection of new data that was not previously available.
Second, if one is truly concerned that a tyrant might take over the United
States, one obviously faces a much greater and all-encompassing threat
than a diminution of privacy, and the response would have to be similarly
expansive. One could join civic bodies that seek to shore up democracies,
or work with various reform movements and public education drives, or
with groups that prepare to retreat to the mountains, store ammunition
and essential foods, and plan to fight the tyrannical forces. But it makes no
sense to oppose limited measures to enhance security on these grounds.