From: Ryan Carboni <ryacko@gmail.com>
   To: cypherpunks@lists.cpunks.org
   Sent: Sunday, August 27, 2017 7:20 PM
   Subject: ACLU defended FBI similarly to how current government gets
   defended
   >[1]http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/collections/rbml/lehman/pdf
   s/0279/ldpd_leh_0279_0040.pdf
   >"Why was Mr. Hoover opposing a law which would make his own work much
   easier?"
   >wow I guess those folks in charge aren't so bad, they they uh, they
   make their own jobs more difficult, so they really good guys huh
   My attempt at an explanation is that in 1950, recording technology was
   quite primitive and expensive, even by 1960's or 1970's standards.
   Merely listening to a phone call isn't enough; useful surveillance
   strongly benefits from the ability to record.  Imagine the size of the
   warehouse that would be necessary to physically store, in 1950
   technology, the product of 1000 simultaneous wiretaps.
   So, these people weren't necessarily "good", they simply lacked the
   technology and money to be "bad".
                 Jim Bell

References

   1. http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/collections/rbml/lehman/pdfs/0279/ldpd_leh_0279_0040.pdf