Comment by anonymousiam

Thanks for the excellent reply/comment. Having supported the US IC for the majority of my career, I'm quite aware of the threats to/from, and the behaviors of nation states.

It's easy to justify snooping. The issue (for me) is when the snooping unjustifiably infringes on my personal privacy. Governments will argue that they don't know that I'm not a threat, so they must surveil me. Unfortunately, those who are doing the surveilling can also be a threat to the people, even when the people are behaving completely in compliance with the law. You need only look at some of the recent revelations in the US press for examples.

Knowledge is power, and power corrupts.