Digby nails it (as usual)

"One of the hallmarks of an authoritarian state is surveillance of its own citizens --- if you give them the power they will use it to gain more. It's inevitable. We Americans should be guarding our privacy more zealously than ever and insisting that our representatives find ways to ensure that the government does not repeal the fourth amendment in slow motion."
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/telling-it-straight-by-digby-intel.html