[WS:] You are missing the point. The problem was not security agencies collecting information, but how that information was used, and what was legal. The real beef is that people there did not have the right of free speech or assembly and that they could not challenge what the cops say - not that cops collected information.
It is really infantile to expect cops to 'respect privacy' and not to collect information. Collecting information is the *only* way they can enforce the law. You do not expect them to wait until criminals voluntarily show up at a police station and confess. This is even beyond childish. What matters is the due process that allows to effectively challenge the information that the cops collected.
This whole brouhaha about information gathering is nothing but libertarian or conspiracist fantasies acting as useful idiots for Republican operatives trying to manufacture some shit on Obama - swift boat captains redux if you will. As I sad before, I am not a big supporter of Obama, but I find this kind of tactics quite repulsive.
-- Wojtek
"An anarchist is a neoliberal without money."