People typically rail about how difficult it is to understand the search functions and data organization:  it's too hard to find or it's too esoteric to read. They quickly move to complaining about how much data the government collects and offers freely.  How's that for having your cake and eating it too?

  As a people, Americans long for a bygone, simpler way of life that harkens back  to our roots in a rugged frontier while simultaneously clinging to a civil ad affluent lifestyle afforded us by technology and economic power.

  As a matter of perspective we can look by contrast ad comparison to other systems and see that ours occupies a middle ground  between extremes.  Firstly the old Soviet system gathered reans of data for mass social oppression with secret files and Orwellian star chambers.  On another extreme is nomadic cultures like the Kalahari Bushmen who own no property, keep no records, ass on culture through generations of inherited lore, and sleep soundly under a canopy of stars.

  The civil codes and civil statutes passed by elected officials which establish these records offices all contribute to the grand works of building and maintaining a vast Western Civilization.  This amazing mass of people who have worked together for centuries have conquered disease, built cities and visited toe Moon.   They stand at the brink of defeating aging, restoring extinct species to life and creating self-aware machines.  

   So, what is a reasonable ratio if any, by which we sacrifice some privacy for a better future?