[vonmoltke]

I don't really buy this paranoid viewpoint. If "they" were trying to use information from surveillance to blackmail people into doing what "they" wanted, considering the scale of these programs I find it hard to believe that they would not have tripped over someone who is either functionally unblackmailable or who is willing to take the hit for the greater good. Furthermore, at some point it becomes very difficult to not trace leaks of such information back to government surveillance programs and entities, so every execution of a blackmail threat poses a serious risk to the blackmailers It works against key people when used occasionally, but it can't be used at scale without someone figuring out what is going on.