One of the hardest arguments to get across in the surveillance debate is the issue of harm from too much extraneous data. The solution to finding a needle in a haystack is not to add more hay. This article came through this morning as NPR reported that Bloomberg is calling for more surveillance cameras in NYC—which might work for catching non-suicide bombers, but does nothing preventive, and nothing reactionary for suicide bombers or larger groups of attackers.

Arguably, the best reason not to radically expand government surveillance is Boston’s example that crowdsourcing individual video and photos works better and faster.

Anti-terror task force was warned of Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s long trip to Russia

The warning was delivered to a single U.S. Customs and Border Protection official assigned to Boston’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, a cell of specialists from federal and local law enforcement agencies. The task force was part of a network of multi-agency organizations set up across the country after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to make sure that clues and tips were shared.

But officials said there is no indication that the unidentified customs officer provided the information to any other members of the task force, including FBI agents who had previously interviewed the militant.