Yes one can only hope!

And even more so, given the US has a charter or individual irrevocable rights, while our politicians/absolutists, have rigidly resisted aping that example to the very last man!

Nonetheless, one would hope that appropriate red flags invoke an appropriate response!

And given a false alarm, the examined need never know they have been thoroughly examined and their false alarm results summarily destroyed; and regardless of what else (personal peccadilloes) turns up, save pedophilia; and or, major crime!

And given the sheer volume of data to be trolled through, forgotten about in just minutes!

At the end of the day and in reference to terrorism and personal safety, it's better to be sure than sorry!
Rhrosty.

Australians just need to get used to being under total surveillance - or do they have something to hide?

For example their iPhones can provide sound and video feeds to security authorities even when the phones are turned "off". Naked selfies...

Security authories can see you through your laptop or PC even when you are not using Skype.

"Security authorities can see you through your laptop or PC even when you are not using Skype." If you Google the previous sentence you will not find any links that prove 'the authorities' have or are using such technology. Remote access security cameras can be easily hacked but that's a different kettle of fish.

It is extremely unlikely anyone is watching you, especially if you have never given 'the authorities' a reason to suspect you are up to something. Most of us are no threat to anyone, particularly national security and if 'the authorities' did have a peek at our emails, they would yawn and move on.

If you are worried someone may be watching you, there is one very easy and effective thing you can do... stick a piece of blu-tac over the camera eye (on your PC or laptop) at all times until you want to use the camera. Blu-tac is easy to pull off when you need to use the camera.

Of course those who live their lives under the umbrella to prevent big brother watching and worry about other crackpot conspiracy theories will disagree with the above comments; but can they back up their paranoia with any credible proof? If they can, they should share it with CNN.

Mass automated surveillance. Or why does the NSA need its supercomputer processing and terabytes of storage?

iPhone camera amd audio-microphone function?

Landline microphone function?

PC video surveillance before there were webcams?

No our spooks would never use their surveillance powers to snoop on our most private moments - except is has already happened.

The NSA listened in on the private communications of US military. If they can do that to their own military what chance that they won't listen to civilians?

"US Soldier's 'Phone Sex' Intercepted, Shared"

Faulk says he and others in his section of the NSA facility at Fort Gordon routinely shared salacious or tantalizing phone calls that had been intercepted, alerting office mates to certain time codes of "cuts" that were available on each operator's computer.

"Hey, check this out," Faulk says he would be told, "there's good phone sex or there's some pillow talk, pull up this call, it's really funny, go check it out." Faulk told ABC News.

"I feel that it was something that the people should not have done. Including me," he said.

WATCH Faulke describe how U.S. officers' calls, including 'phone sex,' were intercepted, recorded & shared at NSA listening post.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTOoZYRYfM0

Why should our government have the power to spy on us 24/7? Even if we block off the cameras, they can still listen to us whenever they want. They can track us with our smart phones.

The government uses facial recognition software - all passports and drivers licenses include biometric data - so most of us are on some database. Even Facebook has this feature.

So much if you have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide. Surely we should be able to be able to enjoy our privacy in our own homes - currently this can't be guaranteed.

“For if we are observed in all matters, we are constantly under threat of correction, judgment, criticism, even plagiarism of our own uniqueness. We become children, fettered under watchful eyes, constantly fearful that — either now or in the uncertain future — patterns we leave behind will be brought back to implicate us, by whatever authority has now become focused upon our once-private and innocent acts. We lose our individuality, because everything we do is observable and recordable."
Bruce Schneier

Sorry just remembered another creepy detail.

I rang the tax office a few months ago and they had a handy voice recognition feature - to allow them to verify your identity - needless to say I didn't use it. Sorry, but I don't want the government to be able to recognize me by my voice. They probably can do it anyway, but why make it easy for them?