Regular people far outnumber foreigners being spied on by NSA: Washington Post

They who give up essential liberty to obtain a little "temporary safety," deserve neither! Benjamin Franklin

and people still keep calling Snowden a criminal instead of a whistleblower. compare to all the laws the NSA has broken, Snowden should be called a hero

Big Brother has arrived, and he ain't leaving.

Wtfjapan: agreed. And sadly, I see little difference between the last administrations actions and this ones. Hopefully in time, everyone will realize how important whistle blowers are, for a truly democratic society.

The use of technology to monitor the populace combined with the nanny state plays right into Obama's strategy to fundamentally change America. The political backlash to Obama's use of technology to undermine America's traditional institutions will be the rise Libertarianism. Since Socialism requires incrementally increasing oppression there will be a growing backlash that will be termed unpatriotic and racist.

These files “tell stories of love and heartbreak, illicit sexual liaisons, mental-health crises, political and religious conversions, financial anxieties and disappointed hopes.”

This is the type of information that will be used to undermine the Lefts political opponents. It is just too tempting not to be taken advantage of. It isn't an accident that Harry Reid was bold enough to tell the country that he knew the contents of Mitt Romney's tax returns.

@Wolfpack

the Left? There is still a Left left in the US?

But your point is well taken.

Power you give to the government when your preferred party is in charge will still be available to the government when your pals are replaced with someone elses.

"Intelligence" can be collected and disseminated with a minimum of oversight if so desired by those in charge and used to extra-judicially destroy someone's life.

No warrants needed if it won't be used in court. No rules of evidence.

Privacy protection rules? Consider what Snowden could take without permission, imagine what can be done with collusion from within government.

What can the victim do? Claim they were wiretapped by NSA?

There'll be no proof and their credibility will be damaged. They might as well ask to be committed for paranoia.

Nobody has nothing to hide!

Relationships,Health information,Business information,Financial information

Information is power. Power corrupts. Total power corrupts totally. Anyone for Total Information?

You wouldn't believe how many "regular people" are troublemakers!

"The Post also found that the NSA held on to material that analysts described as “useless.”... Some of the files however included “discoveries of considerable intelligence value.”

See!

U.S.A. Ubiquitous Surveillance of America.

@Serrano

You wouldn't believe how many "troublemakers" are regular people who were designated as "troublemakers" by the government when they were trying to expose government fraud waste and abuse!

Now please explain how they are to protect their rights?

So many people are too afraid of the government to admit even to themselves there is something wrong, and would rather twist the meaning of evidence so they can feel safe and excused from doing anything.

You sound like you would have been very at home in pre-war Japan (or in the DDR, under another government that worked out so well)