[ArbitraryCrow]

I've been interested in this topic for a while, and I've found most people's responses to the question falls into 3 broad categories:

1) This is just tin-foil-hat paranoia. You're crazy. (This is by far the most popular choice.)

2) I'm unimportant. "They" wouldn't care about anything I do, so what does it matter?

3) Universal surveillance is a fact of life now. Deal with it, or move somewhere remote like Kamchatka and raise your children to believe civilization was destroyed by zombies.

[s_q_b]

(1) should be conclusively disproven by now. (3)'s probably closer to the truth. I for one would be flat out shocked if some US chips didn't have security overrides built-in

[contingencies]

While I can see where you are coming from I think the false trichotomy not very valuable as an analytical device. What we are witnessing is a complex social/technological situation and we need to have a discussion that matches that... rather than divide and conquering ourselves in to us-and-them mentalities.

Sure, most people have no idea. Sure, most people are more worried about things further down Maslow's hierarchy. However, if we are to select a reasonable venue for informed discussion of the issues, this one isn't too far off the ideal.

Let's do our best then to try not to call people (1) crazy (2) paranoid, or (3) crazy who actually care about the issues, OK?