I hate to hear the statement, "I don't care if they're listening, because I don't have anything to hide". I realize that John Dickerson retreated from this stance, but it's such a potentially poisonous perspective that I feel I must respond.

I ask anyone who believes the basic tenets of that statement to contemplate a few major events in U.S. History:

- If the British Monarchy had been able to surveil the colonists as effectively, would the American Revolution have been successful?

- Imagine what Senator MaCarthy could've done with this kind of power in the 50s.

- If the U.S. government had this type of power in the 50s and 60s, would the Civil Rights movement have been effective or would it have been delayed by decades?

- If the U.S. government had this type of power in the 60s and 70s, would conscientious Americans have been able to organize and execute massive Vietnam protests?

A cursory review of major events in U.S. history - events that are generally viewed as positive events now, but were perceived as threatening events to the governments of the day - demonstrates that this type of surveillance activity can, and probably will, have major negative influences over the future course of U.S. history. Do we want to risk the environmental movement, or the gay rights movement, or the peace movement, or...? I don't.