That, I'm afraid, is definitely untrue. Even the surveys most generous to the opposition show a gross majority of the American public favors the scanners. A motivated minority seems to be doing most of the Slashdot posting. But most Internet fora contain a high proportion of "If you don't like it, take the bus!"-type posts.

One of the saddest aspects of this drama is how it's revealed the latent American appetite for totalitarianism. A lot of Americans, perhaps the majority, don't understand or even want their constitutional rights. This goes deeper, tragically, as you look at younger, Internet-generation citizens. Look at the surveys of sub-30 American who generally agree freedom of the press ought to be curtailed or suppressed when it threatens the stability of the state.

Oh, I think they do. There's been a lot of writing in the past week or two about how this is the only issue than could possibly unite Glenn Beck, NPR, Matt Drudge and the ACLU. Which is a wonderful thing. But the division here is not between left and right, Democrats and Republicans; it's between the awake and the asleep, the proactive and the passive, the students of American values and extreme security junkies.

I don't think Anne Frank would have lasted until lunchtime on day one in the attics of 6 out of ten Americans. ("Oh, officer, hello. You're looking for Anne Frank? You say she's a threat? Oh, well, if it keeps us safer... go right upstairs and grab her. She's working on some subversive, traitorous diary; be sure you get that too.")