[rjzzleep]

> After the Snowden leaks we all know that this is possible.

This bothers me. A lot of people might remember Narus and Narusinsight[1]

> Narus is noted for having created NarusInsight, a supercomputer system, whose installation in AT&T's San Francisco Internet backbone gave rise to a 2006 class action lawsuit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation against AT&T, Hepting v. AT&T.

But sure, I'm certain there are people that actually worked for these companies and can tell you how their stuff doesn't really work as advertised. Anyway, what exactly new did Snowden bring to the table in this particular context?

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narus_(company)#NarusInsight

[sp332]

PRISM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program) And also that GCHQ tapped Google's datacenter links. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/10/new-docs-show-ns... After that information came out, Google started encrypting their internal networks.

[lbtuda]

xkeyscore --> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XKeyscore

[jgrahamc]

> Anyway, what exactly new did Snowden bring to the table in this particular context?

A "heroic" character that people could identify with to frame the rest of the story.

[jrochkind1]

> Anyway, what exactly new did Snowden bring to the table in this particular context?

Scale and scope. And more attention to some things that were already known by those paying attention, true.