Unless you were living under a rock, you already knew the NSA was getting out of control
Yes, definitely. If your threat model hasn't included global passive adversaries, at least since Mark Klein, then you're woefully naive and out of touch.
But what Snowden did is get people to care by revealing tangible details in a way that simply saying "everything is tapped" does not. Things certainly won't change overnight, and it may even take a few more like him to keep us on track to a secure Internet. But the fact that he got all of us talking, and we're still talking, is pretty remarkable.
And as long as he didn't physically hurt anyone, I can't see how anything could possibly be wrong with his methods. Remember, we're talking about unauthorized computer access versus institutionalized programs that are illegal under USG's charter, and of a type that would at least be publicly approved and transparent in any free society.
Comments
Yes, definitely. If your threat model hasn't included global passive adversaries, at least since Mark Klein, then you're woefully naive and out of touch.
But what Snowden did is get people to care by revealing tangible details in a way that simply saying "everything is tapped" does not. Things certainly won't change overnight, and it may even take a few more like him to keep us on track to a secure Internet. But the fact that he got all of us talking, and we're still talking, is pretty remarkable.
And as long as he didn't physically hurt anyone, I can't see how anything could possibly be wrong with his methods. Remember, we're talking about unauthorized computer access versus institutionalized programs that are illegal under USG's charter, and of a type that would at least be publicly approved and transparent in any free society.