Time to upgrade to PGP-powered tin foil hats

This is by far, the worst idea I've heard in the wake of the September 11th attacks: a central database to monitor every network packet possible.

I've heard a lot of "chicken littles" screaming about falling skies and "1984" and "police states" over the past 15 months, but I never saw anything tangible worth getting worked up about. A constant and total wiretap on any and all online communication is the first tangible awful idea I've seen come down the pipe. Never mind that terrorists could get a free copy of PGP or GPG and operate just fine as encrypted packets even in a state of total surveillance. Never mind that every investigation into the US' lack of preparedness points to the US not having the organizational skills to properly handle the small sets of data they were getting previously. This will somehow keep us "safe." I also can't help but see the incredible hypocrisy coming from the President's party of "smaller government." If a gun doesn't need to be registered, and a computer doesn't need to be registered either, I would hope that I should be free to use a computer without surveillance just as I should be able to use a gun at a range or hunting without someone in washington having to know my constant position and what I'm doing with it.

So far this year, I've given the EFF about $200. I'm going to give them another $100 right now.