[aznjons]

One perspective on the current debate over whether governments should spy on other countries seems very similar to arms race issues.

However, instead of debating whether nuclear weapons should be decommissioned in the canonical example of an arms race, the debate is trending toward whether more subtle, and arguably more powerful infoweapons and "cyberwarfare" should be allowed on an international scale. Especially when it can be used to enforce oppressive, Orwellian, Kafkaesque regimes maybe not now, but sometime in the future. Unfortunately, I am not sure that the general populations of the world are as cognizant of the implications of powerful information apparatuses as they should be.

A legitimate question seems to be, would you rather have a stockpile of nuclear weapons that you cannot use due to the their blatant destructive power and the threat of mutually assured destruction, or would you rather have secret global panopticon surveillance backed by increasing powerful analytics technologies to sift through the firehose of information?

Why rely on nukes when you can do so much more with greater degrees of omniscience? Quash domestic and foreign threats alike before they even emerge with targeted action founded on near full informational awareness.