[hamai]

User iwwr summarized well the problems with the "nothing to hide" argument:

"The ability to gleam private details about people is having some power over them. The entire modern theory of government rests on limiting and dividing up the power of those in power. With mass surveillance, that balance is broken. Not only do we have private details on individuals, that knowledge is held by a small and unaccountable elite, protected by state secrets.

Even if you live completely lawfully and morally and truly have nothing to hide you can either:

1. Unwittingly do something illegal (there are too many laws on the books for anyone to know they are completely innocent); or do something that can be construed as such, since the police and prosecutors can be fallible;

2. Still live in a society where a small group of individuals can exert blackmail and intimidation on a significant proportion of citizens. Even if that power would be rarely used, it creates an environment of fear. People start to be afraid to speak against abuse, those in power stand less for their own scrutiny."

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4957864

[foobarqux]

It's even worse. Since data will be stored almost indefinitely people will be able to be persecuted retroactively for things they did or beliefs they had many years ago, even if those actions or beliefs were en vogue at the time.