Snooping on Citizens in a (supposedly) Democratic, Free Society

There have been some recent revelations about the extent of government spying on it's citizens (and everyone else, to be fair...).  The most egregious reports have come out of the USA, but I really wonder what is going on here in Canada?  I suppose the stories will come out at some point....  We've already had the talking points from Vic Toews but I hope we've moved past the "with us or with the pornographers" stage of the discussions....

The argument is often made that "...if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear...".  One prescient comment I saw put it this way: "If you say you have nothing to hide, you probably lie about other things too."

The Washington Post had an article which it called "Five Myths About Privacy".  It addresses that "nothing to hide, nothing to fear" mantra that's thrown out there far too often.

As the Washington Post article put it:

 "Even if a person is doing nothing wrong, in a free society, that person shouldn't have to justify every action that government officials might view as suspicious. A key component of freedom is not having to worry about how to explain oneself all the time."

Exactly.