User blog comment:Brandon Rhea/The Day We Fight Back: A Digital Protest/@comment-71.211.4.172-20140212042353

I think that as far as privacy goes now, it's become a disgusting concept used almost exclusively by those who ARE doing something wrong. The only reason average Joe wants it is because average Joe illegally downloads, talks about getting high, or some other such illegal activity no one cares about. So if he's racist, or republican, or a member of some cult, he'll get busted while the goverment leaves everyone else in peace.

I'm tempted to say it's wrong to criminalise something 99% of people do and only attack when you feel like it, but I don't define that, and neither does anyone participating in this protest. If Joe holds a contrary opinion and it just ends up that he has to hold himself to a higher standard than 99% of people because of government policy, that's a fair trade. If you're not willing to suffer for your ideals, then you don't deserve to have them in the first place.

It's a shame that these surveillance procedures cost so much to the taxpayer, though, since they don't catch any actual terrorists.