[rayiner]

I think the argument is that you need more justification to claim that a government agency is engaging in blackmail and extortion than "a once in a century character in a different government agency 50 years ago at the height of a national paranoia not seen since that time sent someone a nasty letter."

[jlgreco]

The fear is that they are creating tools that would give Hoover an orgasm on the spot, and we don't know that there isn't another Hoover.

We don't need concrete proof of current wrong-doing in order to take lessons from history. That is the value of history.

[rayiner]

I agree with you, but I was responding to the claim:

"b/c it has nothing to do with an investigation...now blackmail and extortion???"

I read that as something stronger than "we need to take lessons from history." I think the statement goes further than that to claim that the NSA's purported justifications are entirely pretense and the real motivation is blackmail and extortion. That I think requires stronger proof than "someone sometime did something."