Is Big Brother back in the USA?

I am referring to 2 articles here.
This one from Democracy Now, telling us that the US government is spying on anti-war and anti-nuclear activists.
And this one from the BBC telling us that Bush authorized the secret services to eavesdrop on any Americans.

So the eternal question is: when is too much spying too much?
There is of course this compromise between liberty and security, bla bla bla...

But come on. With the current administration in place I think it is a bit dangerous to let them just spy on everyone. And moreover they are not allowed to do this kind of things without proper authorization from several bodies inside the political system. Otherwise what would be the difference between a democracy and a dictatorship?!?

I do hope that Americans will clearly show their disagreement on this.

Added Dec, 21st '05: Good entry on Bruce Schneier's blog, here.
Added Dec, 23rd '05: Another one from Bruce's blog, here.
Added Dec, 24th '05: Spying more widespread than acknowledge by Bush, here.
Added Jan, 14th '06: Bush Authorized Domestic Spying Before 9/11, here. What was his excuse then???


Posted in: _Society , _USA , _Democracy