[loup-vaillant]

Again, I'm going to use the War on Drug. They cracked down on users, and it plain didn't work. Do reduce drug demand, you want to help users, not put them in jail. And also help unhappy people in general —in practical terms, this often means helping poor people, that is, having a functioning welfare system.

Child porn may be similar. I don't know.

And of course total surveillance is too high a price to pay. I'd rather have some more child abuse and some more "terrorism" and a little bit more crime, if that's the price we have to pay for privacy (and I'm not even sure we do). As much as I don't like horrible stuff happening, total surveillance is much worse —if only because of the sheer number and comprehensiveness of the effects. I'll take torture over dust speck¹.

http://lesswrong.com/lw/kn/torture_vs_dust_specks/

[hutzlibu]

I guess we agree on the main topic, I just want to point out, in case you ever want to go into politics, or some other public position ... never phrase a sentence like that:

"I'd rather have some more child abuse "

media would lynch you cheeringly and totaly ignoring everything after. Kind of a sad world we are living in, though ...