[justaaron]

You are completely ignoring the singularly unique aspect of digital communications which enables unprecedented new powers, period:

Storage. History. Digital communications like email are stored, and can be stored FOREVER... with just a flip of a switch, a word, an order, a warrant...

One does not have a pile of previous analog telephone calls just waiting to be scooped up and analyzed retro-actively

Anyone can see that if I can run all your data backwards through retro-actively invented filters, I have a power that has no parallel in the analog world: For example: they didn't stop the Boston Bombers, so they change the algorithms until when they run everything again, it lines up.

This is seriously scary stuff, and it's a double-edged sword. I feel that it goes too far in giving power to these wanna-be-omniscient agents.

I'm not comfortable having ANY human omniscient agents. I don't give a rat's behind how "noble" or "sacred" their mission statement is... bad people will abuse such powers and they already are doing so...