“The real danger is the gradual erosion of individual liberties through automation, integration, and interconnection of many small, separate record-keeping systems, each of which alone may seem innocuous, even benevolent, and wholly justifiable.”

The bureaucracies are worse than the representatives -- at least you can vote the rascals out of office, but a government program never dies.

Socialism, fascism, tyranny, grows by small hidden acts as well as that which is large and in your face. It is the innocuous that is usually the most insidious.

Data mining anyone? When government starts deciding that junk food is as bad for you as smoking and links up with the grocery store database, it's going to get hard to buy a bag of potato chips. Link enough databases and every aspect of your life can be controlled.

I agree... and an even more disturbing danger is that the government has somehow gotten into their heads that torturing innocent people is justified.