"Let’s be extremely generous and say that, on average, 3,000 Americans die every year from terror attacks [...]
The government has yet to prove one credible example of a legitimate terror plot that was prevented thanks to mass surveillance. If they want to insist that spying makes us safer, this would be good information to know."
Is that not evidence that to some degree, the surveillance works to keep terrorism down? One of the biggest deterrents to committing a crime is the certainty of getting caught. I realize that people have blogged about how to circumvent a lot of the security making it seem pointless, but I assume even the appearance of security would make it seem like less of an appealing idea to a would-be terrorist.
EDIT: I should say "interesting" rather than "weird." This post is assuming the psychology of a terrorist is similar to a white collar or petty criminal, which obviously isn't always the case. But maybe it's not too much of a stretch to say it doesn't stop senseless violence or serial killers from committing similar acts of terror.