The trouble with kompromat is, though, that nobody needs to actually use it, or threaten its use, for it to become an effective deterrent to political activity. We can see this in western societies already: It is not uncommon for qualified and capable individuals to decide against standing in elections for fear of having their lives examined under a microscope. When everything you have ever done has been recorded, are you sure that none of it could be used to make you look bad?

What about the famous "three felonies a day" that even well-­meaning and law­-abiding citizens run into?

Clapper's argument that "it isn't collection until you look at it" is disingenuous and dangerous. By this logic, vast files tracking people's lives in pedantic detail are not problematic until that data is retrieved from a filing cabinet and read by a human. Transporting his logic into East Germany of the early 80's, collecting excruciating detail about people's private lives was OK, it was only when the StaSi actively used this data that things went wrong.

The discussion whether phone metadata records should be held by the government or by private entities does not matter. Data should only be held for the period which is necessary to perform a task, and storing data in excess of this period without allowing people to view / edit / remove this data carries the implicit threat that this data may be used to harm you in the future. Involuntary mass retention of data is oppressive. And while checks and balances exist now, we cannot be sure how they hold up over time. Deleting the data is the only prudent choice.

Well-­intentioned people can build highly oppressive systems, and not realize what they are doing. Erich Mielke, who had built the most oppressive security agency in living memory in order to protect "his" country from external and internal foes, famously said "but I love all people" in front of East German Parliament. He did not grasp the extent of the evil he had constructed and presided over.

Nobody wants a full-­packet­-capture society. It is fundamentally at odds with freedom. Arbitrary collection and retention of data on people is a form of oppression.

Well said.