More NSA surveillance

If you are surprised by the fact that the NSA is amassing the call records of tens of millions of unsuspecting Americans, you haven't been following the domestic surveillance debate. Alberto Gonzales has consistently – and vaguely – referred to "other" surveillance programs that may or may not exist, and as recently as last month, refused to rule out the possibility of a program of this nature. Last month, an AT&T whistleblower revealed that the NSA was using the company's equipment to suck up huge amounts of internet data – emails, traffic patterns – without warrants. So, while the USA Today article today is incredibly troubling, it just isn't that surprising.

All this news begs the question: Why does it matter, if you aren't a criminal or a terrorist, that the NSA amasses a record of your telephone calls, emails, and Internet usage? I think Geoffrey Stone, of the University of Chicago Law School, has a few excellent answers to this question on the faculty blog:

First, perhaps privacy matters because it’s important for you to be able to lead your everyday life without the sense that the government is constantly peering over your shoulder and preserving for posterity your every word and deed….

Once the government can gather all sorts of other information about you (for example, who your friends are, what books you read, what petitions you’ve signed, who you sleep with), it then has the capacity to use that information against you in all sorts of ways that have nothing to do with catching terrorists. …

Third, perhaps this sort of privacy matters because in a self-governing society we must vigilantly reinforce and preserve the sense of independence and autonomy of the individual. For a self-governing society to function, the citizen must feel that he is the governor, nor the subject.