I believe that they should, however, I do NOT trust them to do so. On the contrary, I fully expect them to roll-over on their customers in order to appease the authorities and thus stay in business.

Accordingly, it is up to the individual to take measures to protect their own privacy. This includes use of encryption, remailers and nymservers; also the use of encrypted proxies such as TOR, the EFF’s onion router, and use of disk-based encryption such as TrueCrypt.

I depend for my privacy on the laws of mathematics (i.e. cryptography) as opposed to laws passed by politicians–who so often fall prey to fear-mongering on the part of police and security agencies. These agencies care little or nothing for the rights of the individual–they continue to lobby government for ever-increasing surveillance powers to combat nebulous threats such as child pornography, organized crime and terrorism–threats the evidence for which that no one else is ever allowed to see–we just have to trust them.

History teaches us that any such trust is frequently misplaced–when such powers are granted, they are almost certain to be misused in the long run, and furthermore, they are only rarely, if ever, taken away from those who abuse them. Even when the judiciary is involved, I would not put it past the police to lie–even under oath–in order to get what they want. Lying under oath by police has become so prevalent, so pervasive, that there is even a term for it–”testilying.”

He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. — Thomas Paine

“They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” — Benjamin Franklin

“Only in a police state is the job of a policeman easy.” — Orson Welles