[TheOtherHobbes]

>They can't use the same technique

It's not the technique, it's the precedent. The technology is really not the point here.

>None of those conditions exists for tax fraud, or for that matter terrorism.

Actually they exist for both. Google is only one possible access point for monitoring.

The question is whether we want Internet services of all kinds of to be part of a culture of automated state surveillance.

I'd suggest there are good reasons for answering that question with a firm 'No'.

[tptacek]

I don't think it's about the technique. The "precedent" (set at least 3 years ago, when this was all announced publicly) involves the tradeoffs.

The technique comes into the picture because there is no technique for detecting tax fraud that makes the same tradeoffs.

I don't have any trouble believing simultaneously that we shouldn't have a "culture of automated state surveillance" and that it's OK to sweep image uploads for matches against known child pornography. Just like I had no problem with metal detectors, but do have a big problem with millimeter wave imaging.