Missing Plane Belies Claims of Mass Surveillance Advocates

At Computer World, Ron Miller points out how the missing Malaysian airliner undercuts all the primary claims of those who argue for unqualified support of the national security police state and surveillance society.  Excerpt:

That a jumbo jet could simply disappear without a trace is mind-boggling. We are told that the NSA is collecting every bit of data on us. We are told that we can be easily tracked through our smartphones and other electronic devices. We are told that this data collection is done in the name of making us safer, by stopping a terrorist attack in real time.

We are led to believe that if we collect enough information -- indeed, if we collect all of the information -- we can see the connections and make the leaps and stop attacks before they happen.

That's what we're told. That's the justification for all this surveillance. And yet if we can't find a jumbo jet after nine days in a world covered by satellite cameras and radar facilities, are we supposed to believe that collecting every one of our emails and listening to every one of our phone calls and following every one of us around as we move through our lives will make us safer?

That, of course, is a rhetorical question. But folks should be careful of this line of argument.  There is no doubt that the national security fetishists and the totalitarian surveillance advocates will counter with their usual claim: this only shows that we need MORE surveillance.