[cgshaw]

Perhaps even more important to note "before 9/11."

So if mass surveillance didn't prevent 9/11, is the rationale to expand it to TOTAL surveillance, if necessary?

[dllthomas]

FWell, there was Total Information Awareness, which was "shut down" after public objection, where "shut down" meant moving the functions to various other places.

[pyre]

  | Perhaps even more important to note
  | "before 9/11."

To me, at least, that's basically how I read "before the PATRIOT Act." I looked it up and the PATRIOT Act was signed into law on 2001-10-26; for some reason I thought that it was quickly pushed through a day or two after 9/11.

[cgshaw]

I read it similarly, but not everyone may recall the ins and outs of the Patriot Act's passage—it was nearly a dozen years ago now. Many of the folks on HN were in grade school.

I was trying to draw attention to the line that government keeps giving us about how "they are trying to prevent another 9/11" with the secret laws and secrets courts that enable warrantless wiretaps and constant surveillance.