"It's now harder and harder to go about our lives without being tracked everywhere, " said Ben Wizner, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union who specializes in privacy and technology issues.

WSJ: Bombing probe highlights expansion of surveillance

We go about our lives again.

BBC: A new normality in damaged Damascus

But we also rely on a certain order in our lives, a certain sense of security that lets us sleep safely in our beds and walk around our neighborhoods free from fear, and go about our daily lives without being the victims of crime.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama Honors Fallen Law Enforcement Officers

Take yet another turn and see otherwise intelligent commentators argue that since so many people cheat on their partners (20% of Americans in mid-life, according to some surveys), we should not be wringing our hands about the recent scandals but just accept them as the norm and go on about our daily lives.

FORBES: Magazine Article

"We like to think we have some privacy in our lives, that we can go places that we don't necessarily want the government to know about, " said said Jennifer Lynch, an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an Internet civil-liberties group.

CNN: After Boston: The pros and cons of surveillance cameras