Define "Win"

The terrorists cannot hope to defeat the U.S. in a military battle.  They can do bombings, mass shootings and, as shown by WTC, take out thousands in a massive terrorist plot.  While each of these things is terrible in its own right and we do need to take steps to prevent these attacks from happening, we need to also consider what the terrorists are seeking to achieve.  Obviously terror is one of things they seek and we should not give it to them.  Should you fear a terror attack?  Sure, within reason. But you have a greater chance of being hit by lightening or dying from a gun in a non-terrorist attack.  Indeed, the odds of dying from a gun go up exponentially when one is in the house - well beyond the odds of dying at the hands of a terrorist - yet we as Americans guard and revere the right to posses a gun.  It is our Constitutional right!

Well privacy is a Constitutional right as well.  If terrorists attacks cause us to lessen our Constitutional rights, be it by more restrictions on gun ownership or less privacy in a world where privacy is increasingly scarce, then perhaps they are achieving exactly what they set out to achieve. In my mind we cannot let terrorists win this emotional battle.  We cannot let them dampen the very thing that makes us the great nation that we are.  Freedom is paramount and it includes having some freedom from our own government.  We have allowed countless soldiers to lose their lives protecting our freedom only now to let terrorists threaten it from afar with occasional attacks.  Freedom is not free and if we give up our freedom to fight terrorists then they have already won.