What level of surveillance would freak you out, if you're not upset over the recent revelations?

[alcibiades_mystery]

14. I don't even consider this to be surveillance

The collection of aggregate data that's run through algorithms to determine patterns of activity is not, in my view, surveillance of my person. That my personal data is included in the aggregate is fair enough. That, in theory this could result in "drilling down" to personal information is also clear, as it is part and parcel of database logics that they can examine the aggregate and the singular. But, in practice, these techniques don't make a whole lot of sense for singular surveillance. They are inefficient for that purpose; they merely point to places where individual surveillance needs to be conducted, but through other means. The patterns suggest cases for individual surveillance, usually through human intelligence or far more intrusive surveillance (wiretaps, for instance) that require additional warrants and controls. What would I have a problem with? 1) If these kinds of aggregate examinations were conducted without judicial and Congressional approval or oversight; that doesn't appear to be the case here - it was certainly the case under Bush; 2) if 'drilling down" from the aggregate and its patterns to other issues or more personal surveillance wasn't regarded as requiring additional oversight and further warrants; this also does not appear to be the case. What I see is not surveillance of me (or anyone else, really) at the level of the individual person, but examination of aggregate data for patterns that would warrant further investigations. To me, that's hardly surveillance at all. Our inability to think through the relation between the aggregate and the singular is really what causes the confusion (this is also why it's a warrant for the company holding the aggregate data, and not for the individuals who make up the aggregate, and also why it is not, in my view, a 4th Amendment issue for anyone making up that aggregate, as what is being examined is the aggregate data, not the individual person).