So did you receive/collect a goodly number of responses to this question? ~ Blanc
Not as many as I'd hoped. And most of them said pretty much the same thing: pro: crime would be reduced con: freedom would be eliminated My primary goal was to generate thought and discussion. In that light, my original post did succeed somewhat. However, I haven't received enough variety in the responses to construct a good list of pros. I think I should rephrase the question and post again. I should not ask for the pros and cons of a "surveillance state", rather, I should ask for the pros and cons of "government sponsored surveillance technology/programs". I want to get people to think about possible benifits of government sponsored surveillance. Not because I like government sponsored surveillance, but because I feel that thinking about the technology from a "pro" perspective will give the "anti" (or better, the "indifferent") people insight into how the pro-surveillance people might attempt to justify the programs they advocate. "It is easier to defeat you enemy if you can view the battlefield from their chair." -- somebody famous probably said something like this 2000 years ago Jim_Miller@suite.com