The N.S.A.’s pool of information on Americans is a pool with no fence, and pools with no fence are invitations to disaster. The pool analogy may also explain why many Americans don’t seem very concerned with the activities of the N.S.A. If the pool of information about American citizens is systematically abused, we aren’t going to know about it — at least not easily. The pool of data is a pool of knowledge. Knowledge is power; and power corrupts. Relying on the agencies themselves to report abuses is like relying on the tobacco companies to tell us whether smoking is harmful. The collection of such data violates our autonomy and … Continue reading Michael P. Lynch