by Professor » Mon Jun 24, 2013 3:29 pm
Please note that this post IS in line with my previously posted views - that I don't support one man passing judgment on a system and unilaterally taking illegal actions to remedy those supposed injustices. However, just because I disagree with how the information about the program was exposed, doesn't mean that I agree with the program.
What are the chances that any American will be killed/directly affected by a terrorist attack? If 3000 people were killed in 9/11, let's say that another 17,000 were directly affected (being a family member of that person - 2 parents, wife and 2.5 children). That's 20,000 people. Given that AlQ has been trying this stuff for 20 years now, let's assume that, worst case scenario (something happens tomorrow), in a person's lifetime, that 20,000 people are affected every 20 years. That's 1,000 people per year, on average. And, let's assume that these types of programs have a 100% chance of avoiding such attacks.
Is securing the safety of 0.0003% of our population (roughly the same number of people struck by lightning per year) worth the betrayal of privacy we're seeing?
To me, it's not even a close call - no way.
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