how many more are people going to tolerate
Before what? What can realistically be done?
Ding.
For more than a decade and a half, we have had nearly the entirety of the Western Security Apparatus
completely dedicated to finding, stopping, and prosecuting terrorist threats.
You think that the current environment is a
failure in that context? Hell no. This is success. I am thankful and in awe that in 16 years, Canada has only suffered two successful terrorist attacks, with two fatalities. And, while America has faced attacks, do you think the number of "successful" attacks bears any resemblance to what terrorists have tried to inflict on the USA? Please.
There is only so much you can do to stop a lone crazy who is dedicated to an idea.
On this site, we're all probably civil libertarians to a degree, when it comes to our concern for privacy from state surveillance (yes, even me). But increasing our chance of catching terrorists from 95% to 99% would likely mean an intrusion into our privacy which every last one of you would object to.
But that's not on the table anyway. No matter what Snowden had to say, someone who wants their communications to remain concealed from the state is absolutely able to do so. "Going dark" isn't the State telling scary ghost stories. It's real. It's here. It's just a fact of life.
Gaining 100% security against these attacks is impossible, and to come closer to it than we are now would require an Orwellian nightmare that no one wants.
