Re: "Freedom isnt free..."
>Government surveillance is exactly the price we have to pay for freedom
Except that, despite all that IRA surveillance, the government managed to lock up a lot of the wrong people. And in order to conduct this sureillance, the government facilitated acts of terror itself. And the "right" people that it was their policy to lock up are now, it would seem, embedded firmly in the present government of Northern Ireland.
And, despite all the cold war surveillance, most of the major spies managed to work undiscovered for a very long time before mostly escaping the country. Meanwhile, MI5 were busily vetting over 6000 posts at the BBC to ensure that continuity announcers weren't slipping left-wing propaganda into the shipping forecast.
Espionage is mostly a game. The reality is that the spooks don't know what they think they know and what they do know is usually used against people who aren't real threats to the nation, merely threats to established political and financial interests.
If it were true that you could trade freedom for security, you'd have a point. Unfortunately, the only people who are offering you that deal are bad guys too.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
