Well now you hit the nail on the head. The issue hasn't been technical for a long time but rather one of "image". People have to still believe they have freedoms and whatever curtails them is for their own good. As long as you're given a good reason to submit to extreme measures (9/11 made the Patriot Act acceptable), or they happen slowly enough that you can't really see a boundary being crossed, these measures will eventually be put in place. And nobody will see a huge difference because they won't remember a time when it was hugely different.