I am old enough to remember walking down the street, shopping, going to library, talking on the phone, and eating out without being under some sort of surveillance. Now, when at a public restroom I find myself wondering if someone is watching me. Stores monitoring for shoplifters or a governmental agency obtaining permission to tap the phone lines of known criminals appear nondetrimental.
Scanning fans faces at a Super Bowl as they passed through the entrance and checking the images against a database for wanted criminals primed the public on the capabilities of video monitoring. Tiananmen Square cameras used to identify and arrest demonstrators prove that cameras are used for purposes other than they were originally intended.
The FISA US CODE Info. courts allow for immediate implementation of wiretaps without court orders as long as such requests are cleared by the FISA courts within 72 hours after they have been placed.. It seems that our Executive Branch has decided to do what they want. Like video surveillance, I now wonder, who is listening to me. Currently the wiretaps are hopefully being used predominately to monitor terrorist activities. Remember this may not always be so.
I also need to point out, if the governments automated systems software can still only provide the most general markers for them to monitor electronic transmissions (chatter), that this post may be monitored.