&gt; Simply, I and many others do not believe that any western government is going to use information gathered by tech companies to preempt threats to entrenched interests and the status quo.<p>It&#x27;s simply hard to take your stance as one made in good faith.<p>The US government has a long history of using its national police, the FBI, to infiltrate and subvert domestic political movements that the powers that be found unpleasant -- including using their police powers against modern groups such as the Occupy movement.<p>Further, we know that the US government has used records held by tech companies to create massive cross-referenced databases of people, including domestic activities. The recent leaks about surveillance programs has made that abundantly clear.<p>Your position is literally that an organization with a history of doing this kind of activity won&#x27;t use the technology we already know the government possesses to keep doing the same thing.<p>So I think there is a need for you to rehash the debate here, because it&#x27;s not clear how you sincerely hold that position.<p>Because rather than a rational view, what you describe sounds like irrational denial.