[cvwright]

I know you're trying to be snarky, but he's responding to a very real accusation from our community.

Every time this question comes up, half of us freak out and scream that the FBI is trying to grab all of our deepest darkest secrets.

I'm not inclined to trust them very far on this issue either, but I still think we should take it as a good sign that Wray is aware of our concerns and that he publicly acknowledges their validity.

[StanislavPetrov]

>but he's responding to a very real accusation from our community.

No he isn't. His whole point is that the FBI can't know for sure which of us is a terrorist or "bad guy" unless they can sift through all of our data and all of our devices to find out. Given the history of the US government classifying every sort of activist, from quaker to environmentalist as "terrorists", his argument should be tremendously unpersuasive to everyone who thinks it through.

http://abcnews.go.com/News/Blotter/fbi-spied-peta-greenpeace...

[mindslight]

> we should take it as a good sign that Wray is aware of our concerns and that he publicly acknowledges their validity.

This statement is not acknowledging our concerns' validity, but brushing them aside with the tired old "nothing to hide" fallacy.

They are indeed interested in "the millions of devices of everyday citizens", because in their warped power-craving worldview, every one of those citizens could actually be a "sleeper threat" committing precrime. If they really are not interested, then why are they continuing to saber-rattle for criminalizing those millions' activities?