It has the feel of a universal stop and frisk. The presumption of innocence, a bedrock of our constitutional protections, is nowhere to be found in the mass collection of phone data. Its rationality cannot be predicated upon the mere assertion that it is not targeted or that it is minimally invasive.
In a different context, legitimate questions abound when the right to vote is taken from many predicated on bogus claims of voter fraud. So too, in this setting the government should be forced to prove a compelling nexus between its theory of protecting against terrorist activities and the results of overwhelming levels of surveillance.
Liberty is not without limits and the realities of this world must be accounted for. Yet the burden should not be upon the citizens of this nation, but the government when the fundamental nature of our relationship is being altered so dramatically.
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