There&#x27;s this man-on-the-street video where people at an organic vegetable market are asked to sign a petition outlawing Di-Hydrogen Monoxide. Many do, as they are advised it so corrosive that it cuts through rock!<p>I&#x27;m starting to think gov&#x27;t spying is the techie&#x27;s equivalent boogieman. I fear this is born out of a shallow understanding of dystopian surveillance state sci-fi.<p>Currently, law enforcement can already intercept your calls and emails - Yes that means compelling your teleco provider with extra work. They can already come into your house and take anything they want: read any document, open any safe. All provided they have a court order. If they do any of this without a court order then <i>they</i> go to jail. And all the evidence collected illegally gets thrown out from being used against you.<p>Because we have standards for what can be used as evidence in a trial, we continue to have liberty, not because law enforcement has been kept in the dark technologically speaking. In fact, it&#x27;s some of the least technologically advanced societies - like N. Korea and Afghanistan (under Taliban i.e. banned music) that come to resemble sci-fi surveillance states.<p>Finally: your smartphone&#x27;s logs, your DNA, public surveillance video are far far far likelier to exonerate you if you&#x27;re innocent than wrongfully convict you. We&#x27;re thinking about this issue all wrong and technology will continue to play a role of helping the traditionally disenfranchised resist police over-reach - think what portable cameras have done to police interactions already.