[jivatmanx]

>Wiretaps were tolerated when we could trust in processes that would guarantee that they would not be abused.

They were abused for a long time and we did nothing. The difference was you had to physically tap the line while the call was taking place, and then physically listen to the entire call.This placed enormous limitations. Now you can automatically store everyone's calls (translated to text), and search the entire database with a keyword search.

But this is one of those things that, sadly, few people outside of places like HN have the slightest understanding of.

[einhverfr]

I stand by my initial wording though. Wiretaps were tolerated because they required a court order and we could trust in a process that seemed to work.

But what has happened since is that particularized search warrants have been replaced by 1772-style general warrants. People now know that this trust has been broken on a tremendous scale and we can't go back. That's the difference.

In other words the key change is in perception more than in substance.